WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:04.000 Suspense! 00:04.000 --> 00:23.720 Autolight and its 96,000 dealers present Transcribed Mr. Alan Ladd in Multiful Murder, 00:23.720 --> 00:30.960 a suspense play produced and edited by William Spear. 00:30.960 --> 00:34.400 Remingchester, you look like a badly battered battery. 00:34.400 --> 00:38.320 A sorry sight indeed for an autolight-stay-full battery man like me. 00:38.320 --> 00:42.280 Wilcox, I've just returned from a safari. 00:42.280 --> 00:45.760 Been haunting camels in Kilkenny. 00:45.760 --> 00:46.760 Camels in Kilkenny? 00:46.760 --> 00:51.440 Why, by St. Patty, didn't you know that the last camel in Kilkenny calmly curled up and 00:51.440 --> 00:55.080 died when the first autolight-stay-full battery landed in Ireland? 00:55.080 --> 01:00.120 He knew he couldn't compare with that teetotalling dispenser of pep and power, the autolight-stay-full 01:00.120 --> 01:04.320 battery, the battery that needs water only three times a year in normal camo, I mean 01:04.320 --> 01:05.320 car use. 01:05.320 --> 01:08.280 Such shenanigans, Wilcox. 01:08.280 --> 01:13.240 Remingchester, autolight-stay-full batteries give 70% longer average life than batteries 01:13.240 --> 01:18.640 without stay-full features, and that's proven by tests conducted according to SAE life cycle 01:18.640 --> 01:19.640 standards. 01:19.640 --> 01:20.640 By the Blarney Stone. 01:20.640 --> 01:25.120 And furthermore, autolight-stay-full batteries have three times as much liquid reserve above 01:25.120 --> 01:28.640 the plates as batteries without stay-full features. 01:28.640 --> 01:32.680 That's why they need water only three times a year in normal car use. 01:32.680 --> 01:34.880 See no more, Wilcox. 01:34.880 --> 01:36.120 One thing more. 01:36.120 --> 01:38.600 You're always right with autolight. 01:38.600 --> 01:54.560 And now with motive for murder and the performance of Alan Ladd, autolight hopes once again to 01:54.560 --> 01:55.560 keep you in suspense. 01:55.560 --> 01:56.560 Irish, she'd ask me, how is a guy a cop? 01:56.560 --> 01:57.560 You make with magnifying glass and bloodhounds? 01:57.560 --> 01:58.560 You make with facts, I'd tell her. 01:58.560 --> 02:01.560 You start with something you know for sure. 02:01.560 --> 02:02.560 Yeah. 02:02.560 --> 02:05.560 Yeah, you make with facts. 02:05.560 --> 02:10.600 But when you're a cop and you've got all the facts, what do you do when they're going to 02:10.600 --> 02:15.480 arrest your own wife for murder? 02:15.480 --> 02:16.960 Even the reporters were nice. 02:16.960 --> 02:20.800 They didn't try to steal a picture of Mary, though there were plenty of them around. 02:20.800 --> 02:23.000 But I knew what they were thinking about. 02:23.000 --> 02:28.240 A little guy with a mustache sitting in my chair wearing a knife between his ribs. 02:28.240 --> 02:32.360 And about Mary, my wife, lying over on the Davenport where the bourbon breath could be 02:32.360 --> 02:34.600 used for a cutting torch. 02:34.600 --> 02:37.640 And Doc Deussen was handling it. 02:37.640 --> 02:39.440 My pal for eight years. 02:39.440 --> 02:42.600 He was doing what he could for a brother officer and a friend. 02:42.600 --> 02:44.800 But I knew what would have to go into his report. 02:44.800 --> 02:47.800 You see, I've made out too many of them myself. 02:47.800 --> 02:51.280 All right, all right, boys, wait out in the hall till the basket gets here. 02:51.280 --> 02:52.280 Go on, go on. 02:52.280 --> 02:54.240 Yeah, but Lieutenant, I ain't finished dusting the place yet, man. 02:54.240 --> 02:55.240 Go on, get out of the hall. 02:55.240 --> 02:58.240 Yeah, all right, sure, sure. 02:58.240 --> 03:00.720 Smoke, Dave? 03:00.720 --> 03:04.160 No, thanks, Chuck. 03:04.160 --> 03:06.280 Well, she doesn't feel good. 03:06.280 --> 03:07.280 I'm going to ask you, Dave. 03:07.280 --> 03:08.280 You know who he is? 03:08.280 --> 03:09.280 No, I never saw him before in my life. 03:09.280 --> 03:10.280 His name's Hamilton, Victor Hamilton. 03:10.280 --> 03:11.280 How'd you find that out? 03:11.280 --> 03:12.280 You sat there and watched me frisk him. 03:12.280 --> 03:13.280 Huh? 03:13.280 --> 03:16.280 Yeah, yeah, I guess I got some sawdust in my head. 03:16.280 --> 03:22.080 I've seen a lot of dead guys, but not in my own place. 03:22.080 --> 03:24.720 Well, I just thought you might have known him, Dave, that's all. 03:24.720 --> 03:26.600 Funny you don't know the guy. 03:26.600 --> 03:30.280 Oh, look, Dave, I'm sorry about... 03:30.280 --> 03:32.280 I'm sorry it's your wife. 03:32.280 --> 03:34.080 Yeah, everybody's sorry. 03:34.080 --> 03:38.360 I can follow up the routine for an hour or two, maybe, but those guys from the D.A. 03:38.360 --> 03:41.280 I know, I know, you're thinking of Second Avenue stuff. 03:41.280 --> 03:45.680 Spilled whiskey, broken glass, mirror lipstick on dead man's cheek. 03:45.680 --> 03:47.680 She didn't kill him, Jack. 03:47.680 --> 03:48.680 Irish, Irish. 03:48.680 --> 03:49.680 I feel funny. 03:49.680 --> 03:50.680 She's awake now. 03:50.680 --> 03:51.680 Hello, Angel. 03:51.680 --> 03:52.680 Oh, hi, Irish, you're home early. 03:52.680 --> 03:53.680 Good night, Peter. 03:53.680 --> 03:54.680 Hello, Mary. 03:54.680 --> 03:55.680 Jack. 03:55.680 --> 03:56.680 Irish. 03:56.680 --> 04:04.480 She's drunk. 04:04.480 --> 04:05.480 Or drugged. 04:05.480 --> 04:06.480 We'll find out later. 04:06.480 --> 04:07.480 All right, Jack. 04:07.480 --> 04:08.480 I'm sorry. 04:08.480 --> 04:09.480 It's all right. 04:09.480 --> 04:10.480 Look, Angel, I want to ask you something. 04:10.480 --> 04:11.480 Why was Hamilton here? 04:11.480 --> 04:12.480 Hamilton? 04:12.480 --> 04:13.480 We don't know anybody named Hamilton Irish. 04:13.480 --> 04:14.480 A little guy with a gray mustache. 04:14.480 --> 04:15.480 Oh, you mean the sailor? 04:15.480 --> 04:16.480 Yes, the sailor. 04:16.480 --> 04:17.480 Oh, I see. 04:17.480 --> 04:18.480 I see. 04:18.480 --> 04:19.480 I see. 04:19.480 --> 04:20.480 I see. 04:20.480 --> 04:21.480 I see. 04:21.480 --> 04:22.480 I see. 04:22.480 --> 04:23.480 I see. 04:23.480 --> 04:24.480 I see. 04:24.480 --> 04:25.480 I see. 04:25.480 --> 04:28.000 Oh, you mean the salesman. 04:28.000 --> 04:29.480 I ordered a vacuum cleaner. 04:29.480 --> 04:32.680 He had to give me demonstration and clean the whole place. 04:32.680 --> 04:36.160 He was a funny old man. 04:36.160 --> 04:39.720 I gave him a drink for doing all my work. 04:39.720 --> 04:40.720 Then what, honey? 04:40.720 --> 04:47.240 Then I felt this hurt in my head. 04:47.240 --> 04:49.240 I saw you and Jack. 04:49.240 --> 04:52.240 I don't feel right, Irish. 04:52.240 --> 04:54.880 Baby, that set of knives in the kitchen. 04:54.880 --> 04:56.880 Did you use the chef's knife or anything? 04:56.880 --> 04:57.880 No, no. 04:57.880 --> 05:00.880 You know those knives scare me. 05:00.880 --> 05:02.000 Yeah. 05:02.000 --> 05:03.480 That's all you can remember, Mary? 05:03.480 --> 05:04.480 That's everything? 05:04.480 --> 05:05.480 Yes. 05:05.480 --> 05:06.480 What are you doing? 05:06.480 --> 05:07.480 Practicing cops on me? 05:07.480 --> 05:10.480 Look, honey, the landlady came over to borrow a book. 05:10.480 --> 05:12.600 She heard the radio, but you didn't answer the bell. 05:12.600 --> 05:15.600 She got worried and used the passkey. 05:15.600 --> 05:18.120 Irish, what is it? 05:18.120 --> 05:19.920 We got trouble. 05:19.920 --> 05:21.920 Somebody used that knife on Hamilton. 05:21.920 --> 05:22.920 Oh, Irish. 05:22.920 --> 05:25.920 Jack, what is this? 05:25.920 --> 05:30.720 Why, Mr. Hamilton's sitting right over there, right... 05:30.720 --> 05:31.720 Irish. 05:31.720 --> 05:32.720 Oh, no! 05:32.720 --> 05:45.280 Well, Dave, the medic says that bruise on Mary's head is something she could have done on a 05:45.280 --> 05:46.880 chair arm or a door. 05:46.880 --> 05:47.880 Skin isn't broken. 05:47.880 --> 05:48.880 The swelling doesn't amount to much. 05:48.880 --> 05:50.840 So she was drunk and she fell down. 05:50.840 --> 05:53.440 Jack, you know she never took more than one drink. 05:53.440 --> 05:55.440 Let's hear the rest. 05:55.440 --> 05:56.920 Lab ran tests, not finished yet. 05:56.920 --> 05:58.560 No sign of narcotic on her so far. 05:58.560 --> 05:59.560 Plenty of whiskey. 05:59.560 --> 06:01.480 The prints on the knife were hers. 06:01.480 --> 06:02.480 Why not? 06:02.480 --> 06:03.480 It was her knife in her kitchen. 06:03.480 --> 06:04.480 You're a cop, Dave. 06:04.480 --> 06:06.480 You can't beat the system. 06:06.480 --> 06:08.680 Everyone's leaned backward on this all down the line. 06:08.680 --> 06:10.160 Everything's been checked a dozen times. 06:10.160 --> 06:12.160 The system says she's guilty, Irish. 06:12.160 --> 06:14.440 You think she's guilty? 06:14.440 --> 06:15.680 What I think doesn't count. 06:15.680 --> 06:16.680 It's facts. 06:16.680 --> 06:18.200 Hamilton sold vacuum cleaners. 06:18.200 --> 06:21.960 He had business cards in his pocket, but there was no order book at your house and no vacuum 06:21.960 --> 06:22.960 cleaner. 06:22.960 --> 06:25.600 Well, you can see what that does to her story about that demonstration. 06:25.600 --> 06:31.320 You, uh, you better send a lawyer down to Harbor Precinct. 06:31.320 --> 06:32.320 Not yet. 06:32.320 --> 06:33.320 I want to dig myself. 06:33.320 --> 06:34.320 I know what you're thinking. 06:34.320 --> 06:36.000 She was slugged or drugged or both. 06:36.000 --> 06:37.720 And there was a third party. 06:37.720 --> 06:38.720 That's right. 06:38.720 --> 06:39.720 There was a third party. 06:39.720 --> 06:40.720 He slugged Mary and shoved that knife in Hamilton. 06:40.720 --> 06:44.360 Then he poured whiskey down Mary's throat and painted lipstick on Hamilton's cheek. 06:44.360 --> 06:46.000 There has to be a third party. 06:46.000 --> 06:49.480 Dave, I know you're trying, but you can't disregard what we found. 06:49.480 --> 06:52.280 Look, I've been a cop a long time, Jock. 06:52.280 --> 06:55.320 I know a woman will shoot a man or stab him or poison him and then stand there and scream 06:55.320 --> 06:56.320 what a lousy he is. 06:56.320 --> 06:58.560 But a man did this job and I'm going to find him. 06:58.560 --> 07:01.160 We gave the neighborhood and the house the works and we came up empty, Irish. 07:01.160 --> 07:02.960 Then you didn't look hard enough. 07:02.960 --> 07:03.960 I'm going to go take a look. 07:03.960 --> 07:04.960 Wait a minute, Dave. 07:04.960 --> 07:05.960 I can't put you on this. 07:05.960 --> 07:07.320 The newspapers had crucified you. 07:07.320 --> 07:08.320 Because she's my wife? 07:08.320 --> 07:10.520 Because I might want to destroy evidence? 07:10.520 --> 07:11.520 Something like that. 07:11.520 --> 07:13.400 All right, here's the fact. 07:13.400 --> 07:15.560 I wouldn't want to get the department any bad publicity. 07:15.560 --> 07:16.960 Now, Dave, please. 07:16.960 --> 07:20.960 David X. Murphy, detective, second grade. 07:20.960 --> 07:23.200 It says I'm a part of the system, a cop. 07:23.200 --> 07:26.800 Give it to the commissioner with my regards. 07:26.800 --> 07:28.800 Oh, no, wait. 07:28.800 --> 07:31.920 Here, take this back, Irish. 07:31.920 --> 07:35.560 As far as I'm concerned, you're hunting the guns that knocked off those service stations. 07:35.560 --> 07:39.280 How could you ask questions without a badge, huh? 07:39.280 --> 07:40.280 Thanks, Jock. 07:40.280 --> 07:41.280 Thanks a lot. 07:41.280 --> 07:43.480 If there is a third party, find him, Dave. 07:43.480 --> 07:44.480 Find him. 07:44.480 --> 07:45.480 There is. 07:45.480 --> 07:46.480 And I'll find him. 07:46.480 --> 07:55.480 You make with facts, I told you. 07:55.480 --> 07:59.000 The start was something you know for sure. 07:59.000 --> 08:01.480 I knew Mary hadn't killed Hamilton. 08:01.480 --> 08:03.520 For sure. 08:03.520 --> 08:05.000 Fact. 08:05.000 --> 08:07.240 Strangers saw them kill each other. 08:07.240 --> 08:10.960 Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, the killer knows the victim. 08:10.960 --> 08:12.480 Fact. 08:12.480 --> 08:16.480 Hamilton had been stabbed at my house where he came to demonstrate a vacuum cleaner. 08:16.480 --> 08:19.360 The vacuum cleaner wasn't in my house. 08:19.360 --> 08:22.360 Hamilton had been killed for that vacuum cleaner. 08:22.360 --> 08:23.360 Fact. 08:23.360 --> 08:27.080 A vacuum cleaner? 08:27.080 --> 08:33.840 Is that a motive for a murder? 08:33.840 --> 08:43.160 Yeah? 08:43.160 --> 08:44.160 Police I want to talk to you. 08:44.160 --> 08:45.640 Ah, the police have been here. 08:45.640 --> 08:46.640 Well, they're here again. 08:46.640 --> 08:49.000 Victor Hamlin had an apartment here and you're his landlady. 08:49.000 --> 08:50.000 I want to know about him. 08:50.000 --> 08:51.000 You do, huh? 08:51.000 --> 08:52.000 What do you want to know? 08:52.000 --> 08:53.000 The works, good and bad. 08:53.000 --> 08:54.000 Did he drink, gamble? 08:54.000 --> 08:55.000 Did he stay in nights or go out? 08:55.000 --> 08:56.000 Did he pay his rent? 08:56.000 --> 08:57.000 Start talking and I'll listen. 08:57.000 --> 08:58.320 Oh, well, I know so much about a tenant. 08:58.320 --> 08:59.600 I got my work to do. 08:59.600 --> 09:01.480 Yeah, no maid to keep me. 09:01.480 --> 09:02.480 Almost breaks my back sometimes. 09:02.480 --> 09:03.480 Yeah, yeah, come on now, tell me. 09:03.480 --> 09:04.480 Oh, he lived like a monk. 09:04.480 --> 09:05.480 He paid his bills and kept to himself. 09:05.480 --> 09:06.480 I never saw no friends with him. 09:06.480 --> 09:07.480 Go on. 09:07.480 --> 09:08.480 I can't tell you any more about him. 09:08.480 --> 09:09.480 What do you think I am? 09:09.480 --> 09:10.480 Harriet? 09:10.480 --> 09:11.480 Harriet, come here. 09:11.480 --> 09:12.480 What is it? 09:12.480 --> 09:13.480 This is a policeman. 09:13.480 --> 09:18.480 He's asked me about Hamilton. 09:18.480 --> 09:20.480 I thought you could help him maybe, huh? 09:20.480 --> 09:21.480 Oh, Bob Victor. 09:21.480 --> 09:22.480 You know him, Miss? 09:22.480 --> 09:23.480 Yes, yes, I knew him. 09:23.480 --> 09:24.480 I'm Harriet Blodgett. 09:24.480 --> 09:25.480 I live in this building too. 09:25.480 --> 09:28.480 Do I get to go back to my house for you? 09:28.480 --> 09:29.480 Yeah, thanks. 09:29.480 --> 09:30.480 Well, Miss? 09:30.480 --> 09:34.480 I wish I could tell you something, but I can't. 09:34.480 --> 09:36.480 I just felt sorry for Victor. 09:36.480 --> 09:37.480 Oh, Mr. Hamilton. 09:37.480 --> 09:39.480 He was small and he had no car. 09:39.480 --> 09:42.480 He used to carry those cleaners all over the North End. 09:42.480 --> 09:45.480 Now they're not fixing something to eat and take it up to him. 09:45.480 --> 09:46.480 That all? 09:46.480 --> 09:47.480 Nothing like you, ma'am. 09:47.480 --> 09:48.480 I guess he wasn't interested. 09:48.480 --> 09:49.480 No compliment to me. 09:49.480 --> 09:50.480 What do you do for a living? 09:50.480 --> 09:51.480 Hostess, Elgin restaurant, help Columbus Circle. 09:51.480 --> 09:52.480 Ever meet any of his friends? 09:52.480 --> 09:53.480 He was a lonely little man. 09:53.480 --> 09:54.480 He was a very nice man. 09:54.480 --> 09:55.480 He was a very nice man. 09:55.480 --> 09:56.480 He was a very nice man. 09:56.480 --> 09:57.480 He was a very nice man. 09:57.480 --> 09:58.480 He was a very nice man. 09:58.480 --> 09:59.480 He was a very nice man. 09:59.480 --> 10:00.480 He was a lonely little man. 10:00.480 --> 10:01.480 No friend. 10:01.480 --> 10:02.480 No enemy. 10:02.480 --> 10:03.480 You're wrong. 10:03.480 --> 10:06.480 He had one enemy. 10:06.480 --> 10:14.480 The next morning I was on the third floor of the Morgan Building listening to a man named 10:14.480 --> 10:16.480 Richards, the sales manager of the vacuum cleaner company. 10:16.480 --> 10:17.480 Not house to house. 10:17.480 --> 10:18.480 Indeed, no. 10:18.480 --> 10:21.480 I'd like to have that absolutely clear. 10:21.480 --> 10:24.480 Our people work from lists supplied by us. 10:24.480 --> 10:27.480 We give the names of prospects and they close the sale. 10:27.480 --> 10:29.480 You're not going to make a fortune. 10:29.480 --> 10:30.480 Well, not exactly. 10:30.480 --> 10:31.480 Take Hamilton. 10:31.480 --> 10:32.480 A bad back. 10:32.480 --> 10:33.480 Got pretty tired. 10:33.480 --> 10:34.480 Didn't have the old bounce, the old steam. 10:34.480 --> 10:35.480 A lot of sales got away. 10:35.480 --> 10:36.480 Bad back? 10:36.480 --> 10:37.480 War wound maybe. 10:37.480 --> 10:38.480 I don't know. 10:38.480 --> 10:39.480 He didn't talk much. 10:39.480 --> 10:42.480 He got his demonstrator here every morning, huh? 10:42.480 --> 10:43.480 We assign cleaners to each salesman. 10:43.480 --> 10:46.480 Whenever they make a sale, they bring a deposit in and get another new machine. 10:46.480 --> 10:47.480 Do they make reports? 10:47.480 --> 10:48.480 Absolutely. 10:48.480 --> 10:49.480 Every call. 10:49.480 --> 10:51.480 Give me what Hamilton turned in yesterday. 10:51.480 --> 10:54.480 Oh, yes, of course. 10:54.480 --> 10:56.480 Here you are. 10:56.480 --> 10:59.480 Hamilton's last report. 10:59.480 --> 11:09.480 4502 Van Buren, 4510 Van Buren, 4515 Van Buren. 11:09.480 --> 11:11.480 No house to house, huh? 11:11.480 --> 11:13.480 Oh, you're kidding. 11:13.480 --> 11:19.480 No friends, only one enemy. 11:19.480 --> 11:21.480 On Van Buren Street. 11:21.480 --> 11:23.480 That's where my killer had to be. 11:23.480 --> 11:27.480 Somewhere on a street that had his feet in the bay and his head in the clouds. 11:27.480 --> 11:29.480 From pawn shops to snob apartments. 11:29.480 --> 11:32.480 The 4500 block was middle ground. 11:32.480 --> 11:37.480 Somewhere on that block, Hamilton had put his thumb on one doorbell too many. 11:37.480 --> 11:40.480 I started to top the list. 11:40.480 --> 11:41.480 Police. 11:41.480 --> 11:44.480 Oh, no, my Herman's a good boy. 11:44.480 --> 11:45.480 He took that bicycle back. 11:45.480 --> 11:50.480 He is a good boy. 11:50.480 --> 11:53.480 Yes, Mr. Hamilton was here demonstrating a vacuum cleaner. 11:53.480 --> 11:55.480 He cleaned all my rug. 11:55.480 --> 12:00.480 I promise to keep him in mind. 12:00.480 --> 12:03.480 No, no, never let no strangers sell enough inside of my place. 12:03.480 --> 12:05.480 No, never listen to what they got to say at all. 12:05.480 --> 12:09.480 Never. 12:09.480 --> 12:11.480 I went through 25 like that. 12:11.480 --> 12:13.480 26 was bigger than the others. 12:13.480 --> 12:16.480 A half block of lawn, stained windows and brick. 12:16.480 --> 12:20.480 Built by one of yesterday's fortunes when Van Buren Street was young. 12:20.480 --> 12:22.480 There'll be money in it somewhere. 12:22.480 --> 12:24.480 Somehow, I said to myself. 12:24.480 --> 12:26.480 This was money. 12:26.480 --> 12:28.480 He was tall, slender and pretty. 12:28.480 --> 12:30.480 The mustache moved first. 12:30.480 --> 12:32.480 Please, my aunt's desperately ill. 12:32.480 --> 12:33.480 Police. 12:33.480 --> 12:35.480 But why? 12:35.480 --> 12:36.480 What do you want? 12:36.480 --> 12:37.480 We're checking. 12:37.480 --> 12:40.480 A little guy named Hamilton came by here yesterday selling vacuum cleaners. 12:40.480 --> 12:43.480 He rang your doorbell with a lot of others. 12:43.480 --> 12:45.480 But he got himself killed. 12:45.480 --> 12:47.480 We look into things like that. 12:47.480 --> 12:48.480 Oh. 12:48.480 --> 12:49.480 Whose house is this? 12:49.480 --> 12:51.480 My aunt's, Cecilia Breckenbridge. 12:51.480 --> 12:52.480 That chap was here. 12:52.480 --> 12:53.480 Hamilton, was it? 12:53.480 --> 12:54.480 An impertinent little fellow. 12:54.480 --> 12:57.480 He rang the bell several times, woke my aunt. 12:57.480 --> 12:58.480 I sent him away. 12:58.480 --> 12:59.480 He didn't get inside? 12:59.480 --> 13:00.480 No, not past the door. 13:00.480 --> 13:01.480 That's funny. 13:01.480 --> 13:02.480 The salesmen make reports. 13:02.480 --> 13:05.480 They list every house where they make a demonstration. 13:05.480 --> 13:06.480 Your house is on that list. 13:06.480 --> 13:07.480 It's a mistake. 13:07.480 --> 13:08.480 I sent him away. 13:08.480 --> 13:11.480 He didn't make any mistakes about his other demonstrations. 13:11.480 --> 13:12.480 He didn't lie. 13:12.480 --> 13:13.480 Mistake. 13:13.480 --> 13:15.480 If you want it that way, I'll check the neighborhood. 13:15.480 --> 13:16.480 People see things. 13:16.480 --> 13:17.480 I'll find someone who saw him in here. 13:17.480 --> 13:18.480 All right. 13:18.480 --> 13:19.480 All right. 13:19.480 --> 13:20.480 He was here inside. 13:20.480 --> 13:21.480 Then why the runaround? 13:21.480 --> 13:22.480 My aunt, she's... 13:22.480 --> 13:23.480 Well, she's very old. 13:23.480 --> 13:25.480 It's my duty to spare her any unnecessary excitement. 13:25.480 --> 13:26.480 That's why I lied. 13:26.480 --> 13:28.480 And anyway, there's nothing she could tell you. 13:28.480 --> 13:29.480 He was here. 13:29.480 --> 13:30.480 He made his little speech. 13:30.480 --> 13:31.480 He went away. 13:31.480 --> 13:33.480 But I've got a report to make out. 13:33.480 --> 13:34.480 I know, but couldn't you make an exception? 13:34.480 --> 13:36.480 I'm in position calling on people, bothering them. 13:36.480 --> 13:38.480 But it's better than having a murderer walk the streets. 13:38.480 --> 13:40.480 My aunt is really quite ill. 13:40.480 --> 13:41.480 I can be very gentle. 13:41.480 --> 13:44.480 Oh, it's embarrassing. 13:44.480 --> 13:46.480 Do you know what a persecution complex is? 13:46.480 --> 13:47.480 Right about them. 13:47.480 --> 13:48.480 Well, that's her trouble. 13:48.480 --> 13:49.480 She's old. 13:49.480 --> 13:51.480 Well, you know, senile. 13:51.480 --> 13:53.480 She thinks she's being kept a prisoner here. 13:53.480 --> 13:54.480 Oh? 13:54.480 --> 13:56.480 She's right, of course. 13:56.480 --> 13:59.480 If she weren't confined here, she'd be confined to an institution. 13:59.480 --> 14:00.480 She doesn't understand why. 14:00.480 --> 14:02.480 She's outlived all her close friends, 14:02.480 --> 14:04.480 and she wonders why no one comes to see her. 14:04.480 --> 14:06.480 That's why you let Hamilton and his back-in-fiender in. 14:06.480 --> 14:08.480 Well, I thought it would help. 14:08.480 --> 14:09.480 Instead, he made it worse. 14:09.480 --> 14:10.480 I see. 14:10.480 --> 14:12.480 Are you Breckenbridge? 14:12.480 --> 14:13.480 My name is Dolph. 14:13.480 --> 14:15.480 Harold Dolph, her sister's son. 14:15.480 --> 14:17.480 I'm her only relative. 14:17.480 --> 14:18.480 I keep the place going. 14:18.480 --> 14:21.480 You know how old people are about family homes. 14:21.480 --> 14:22.480 Yeah. 14:22.480 --> 14:23.480 Yeah, I know. 14:23.480 --> 14:24.480 Let's go and see her. 14:24.480 --> 14:27.480 All right. 14:27.480 --> 14:28.480 This way. 14:31.480 --> 14:33.480 Cecilia Breckenbridge was sitting in a rocking chair 14:33.480 --> 14:36.480 beside a window that looked out over the backyard. 14:36.480 --> 14:38.480 She was thin and small. 14:38.480 --> 14:42.480 And she looked up at me out of blue, tormented eyes. 14:42.480 --> 14:44.480 Don't tell her that he was killed. 14:44.480 --> 14:46.480 It'll upset her. 14:46.480 --> 14:49.480 Aunt Cecilia? 14:49.480 --> 14:52.480 Aunt Cecilia? 14:52.480 --> 14:56.480 It's a beautiful day, Harold. 14:56.480 --> 14:58.480 A lovely day. 14:58.480 --> 15:01.480 Aunt Cecilia, this man is here to ask a few questions 15:01.480 --> 15:05.480 about that vacuum cleaner salesman you saw the other day. 15:05.480 --> 15:07.480 Oh. 15:07.480 --> 15:10.480 Be a good girl and answer him. 15:10.480 --> 15:14.480 It's a lovely day, Harold. 15:14.480 --> 15:18.480 Mrs. Breckenbridge, I'd like to know what time he came in to see you. 15:21.480 --> 15:25.480 Sometimes she'll talk, and sometimes she won't. 15:25.480 --> 15:29.480 Mrs. Breckenbridge, do you remember how long he stayed? 15:32.480 --> 15:36.480 The way her mind is, it's hard to tell what to expect. 15:36.480 --> 15:39.480 Do you remember what he did while he was here? 15:39.480 --> 15:41.480 Oh. 15:41.480 --> 15:44.480 A lovely day, Harold. 15:44.480 --> 15:47.480 A lovely day. 15:58.480 --> 16:00.480 That you, Dave? 16:00.480 --> 16:02.480 Yeah, I'm in a drugstore at Van Buren and Hope. 16:02.480 --> 16:04.480 How's the coming out? Give me a hand. 16:04.480 --> 16:06.480 I spotted that third party. 16:06.480 --> 16:10.480 He's tall and pretty, and he's scared to death. 16:21.480 --> 16:25.480 Auto Light is bringing you Alan Ladd in Motive for Murder, 16:25.480 --> 16:34.480 tonight's production in radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense. 16:36.480 --> 16:41.480 Say, Remingchester, were you in Limerick when you were hunting the Irish camel? 16:41.480 --> 16:45.480 Was I in Limerick? I invented the Limerick. 16:45.480 --> 16:47.480 Ah, but not this Limerick, old pal. 16:47.480 --> 16:52.480 Listen, a good name in Erin is Slattery, so's Auto Light's stay-full battery. 16:52.480 --> 16:56.480 Its water he needs a teaspoon feeds. Only three times a year is no flattery. 16:56.480 --> 16:59.480 Alas, poor Limerick. I knew him well. 16:59.480 --> 17:04.480 Well, you know that the Auto Light's stay-full battery needs water only three times a year in normal car use. 17:04.480 --> 17:05.480 Why? 17:05.480 --> 17:10.480 Because it has three times as much liquid reserve above the plates as batteries without stay-full features. 17:10.480 --> 17:13.480 Is it the leprechaun in you, Wilcox? 17:13.480 --> 17:20.480 Why, every leprechaun in Ireland knows that the Auto Light's stay-full battery has a fiberglass retaining mat protecting every positive plate. 17:20.480 --> 17:23.480 That keeps the power producing material in place, you see. 17:23.480 --> 17:33.480 In recent tests based on SAE life cycle standards, the Auto Light's stay-full batteries gave 70% longer average life than batteries without stay-full features. 17:33.480 --> 17:39.480 And remember, Auto Light's stay-full batteries need water only three times a year in normal car use. 17:39.480 --> 17:44.480 Get an Auto Light's stay-full battery and be right with Auto Light. 17:44.480 --> 17:51.480 And now, Auto Light brings back to our Hollywood soundstage our star, Alan Ladd, in Motive for Murder. 17:51.480 --> 17:56.480 A tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. 18:01.480 --> 18:06.480 You start with something you know for sure, like the fact that Mary couldn't kill anyone. 18:06.480 --> 18:12.480 Then you go to people and you ask questions. You look for somebody who'll talk too much or not enough. 18:12.480 --> 18:16.480 Somebody like Harold Dolph in a big old-fashioned house on Van Buren Street. 18:16.480 --> 18:20.480 You meet his invalid aunt who only sits and dreams of 50 years ago. 18:20.480 --> 18:24.480 And you look at tall and pretty in his $30 shirt standing there. 18:24.480 --> 18:30.480 And you find out why and go out and kill a man named Hamilton and steal his vacuum cleaner. 18:34.480 --> 18:39.480 All right, Dave, you've told me what you walked into now. Tell me why you think Harold Dolph's the one. 18:39.480 --> 18:42.480 Tried to cover up before I could ask anything accounted. He lied once. 18:42.480 --> 18:44.480 Oh, cut it, man. I've questioned people too. 18:44.480 --> 18:47.480 All right, but there's something wrong in that house, something wrong about him. 18:47.480 --> 18:49.480 He looked like he knew she wouldn't talk before I asked her questions. 18:49.480 --> 18:51.480 He explained she was ill, a little crazy. 18:51.480 --> 18:54.480 Suppose she isn't crazy, Jock. Suppose she's afraid of him. 18:54.480 --> 18:56.480 All right, Irish, suppose. 18:56.480 --> 18:57.480 Maybe he's keeping her prisoner there. 18:57.480 --> 19:00.480 Well, you said he admitted that much. She'd be in an institution otherwise. 19:00.480 --> 19:02.480 But really keeping a prisoner in there. 19:02.480 --> 19:03.480 Why, though? Why? 19:03.480 --> 19:07.480 Money, money, of course. Her money. He explained it. Her family had money, not his. 19:07.480 --> 19:08.480 You looked into that part? 19:08.480 --> 19:10.480 No, Jock, but I've seen his kind a hundred times. 19:10.480 --> 19:14.480 In Gabbardines, it costs 250 standing around living off what another man worked hard for. 19:14.480 --> 19:16.480 Oh, it's a reach, Irish, a long reach. 19:16.480 --> 19:17.480 He's our man. I know it. 19:17.480 --> 19:21.480 He can stick around that house and torture that old lady by keeping her scared he could kill Hamilton. 19:21.480 --> 19:23.480 Sure, but where does Hamilton fit? 19:23.480 --> 19:28.480 Oh, I don't know, Jock. That old lady could tell me if I could talk to her. 19:28.480 --> 19:29.480 You could be awful wrong, Irish. 19:29.480 --> 19:34.480 I've been wrong before. All I want is a chance to talk to her without Dolph breathing down my neck. 19:34.480 --> 19:35.480 Yeah, yeah. 19:35.480 --> 19:39.480 If I'm wrong, okay. If I'm right, I want Dolph where we can make the pinch. 19:39.480 --> 19:41.480 He'll come out of there sometime. 19:41.480 --> 19:43.480 When he does, you trail a guy. I'll talk to the old lady. 19:43.480 --> 19:45.480 All right, Irish, Jock. 19:45.480 --> 19:48.480 Hey, that him backing the roadster out of the carriage house? 19:48.480 --> 19:49.480 Hey, you're right. 19:49.480 --> 19:51.480 Check with the station any time you get a chance. I'll do the same. 19:51.480 --> 19:52.480 Right, Irish. 19:56.480 --> 20:00.480 If she couldn't answer the bell, I had to use my gun butt on the garden door. 20:00.480 --> 20:05.480 This time she wasn't humming, just breathing slow, uneven. 20:05.480 --> 20:09.480 I lifted an eyelid and felt her pulse, doped. 20:09.480 --> 20:16.480 Then I noticed her hands, fine, long, delicately formed hands, but no rings. 20:16.480 --> 20:19.480 Yet marks that showed she'd worn rings most of her life. 20:19.480 --> 20:22.480 The pictures of her all over the place showed her wearing rings. 20:22.480 --> 20:26.480 Rings with big stones and old-fashioned settings. Money. 20:26.480 --> 20:30.480 Went from top to bottom, then. Attic to basement, every room. 20:30.480 --> 20:33.480 No rings and no vacuum cleaner. 20:36.480 --> 20:39.480 Harbor precinct, Eddie speaking. 20:39.480 --> 20:40.480 Jock Doosan checked in yet? 20:40.480 --> 20:41.480 Who's this? 20:41.480 --> 20:42.480 It's Dave. 20:42.480 --> 20:44.480 Oh, Irish. Yeah, Jock checked in. 20:44.480 --> 20:45.480 Well, give it to me. 20:45.480 --> 20:48.480 I followed your man downtown to the Morgan building on Fifth. 20:48.480 --> 20:49.480 Morgan building? 20:49.480 --> 20:50.480 Yeah. 20:50.480 --> 20:53.480 Morgan building? No house-to-house canvassing, only from lists. 20:53.480 --> 20:55.480 Hey, Irish, you all right? 20:55.480 --> 20:56.480 Yeah, thanks, Eddie. I'll come to your bank. 20:56.480 --> 20:57.480 Right. 20:56.480 --> 20:57.480 Oh, Eddie. 20:57.480 --> 20:58.480 Yeah, Dave. 20:58.480 --> 21:00.480 Send a car to 4698 Van Buren. 21:00.480 --> 21:02.480 There's an old lady down there, doped. 21:02.480 --> 21:05.480 Name's Cecilia Breckenbridge. Take care of her. 21:05.480 --> 21:08.480 Nephew's name, Harold Dahl. Don't let him get close. 21:08.480 --> 21:09.480 Got it. 21:14.480 --> 21:17.480 Mr. Richards left strict orders that he wasn't to be disturbed. 21:17.480 --> 21:19.480 All the salesmen were in for a big meeting today. 21:19.480 --> 21:20.480 Come on, skip the act. 21:20.480 --> 21:23.480 Now, you can't go in there. I don't care if you are the police. You can't go... 21:23.480 --> 21:25.480 What is this, Elsie? I... 21:25.480 --> 21:27.480 I told him, Mr. Richards, but he wouldn't listen. 21:27.480 --> 21:29.480 I left strict orders that... 21:29.480 --> 21:31.480 Oh, thought you. 21:31.480 --> 21:32.480 Mr. Richards... 21:32.480 --> 21:34.480 Later, sister. 21:34.480 --> 21:37.480 Now, see here, such high-handed methods of entering a man's office. 21:37.480 --> 21:39.480 I'm a citizen of this city... 21:39.480 --> 21:42.480 And you're violating City Ordinance 116, paragraph 5, code 2. 21:42.480 --> 21:45.480 You haven't got a peddler's license and your boys are doing house-to-house. 21:45.480 --> 21:47.480 I distinctly told you, we work from clients'... 21:47.480 --> 21:48.480 That's not why I'm here. 21:48.480 --> 21:52.480 Don't go with the tall and pretty and the brown gabardines who came to see you a little while ago. 21:52.480 --> 21:53.480 Huh? 21:53.480 --> 21:54.480 Within the last hour. 21:54.480 --> 21:56.480 An officer from my division followed him this far. 21:56.480 --> 21:59.480 A tall man, brown gabardines, but I... 21:59.480 --> 22:00.480 What do you want? 22:00.480 --> 22:03.480 Well, he just wanted to ask me about his vacuum cleaner. 22:03.480 --> 22:04.480 What about his vacuum cleaner? 22:04.480 --> 22:08.480 Well, he... I had to tell him the same thing I explained to you this morning... 22:08.480 --> 22:09.480 About how we handle our sales. 22:09.480 --> 22:10.480 What thing? Come on. 22:10.480 --> 22:12.480 About a sale. 22:12.480 --> 22:16.480 When they make one, they bring the deposit money in and get a new machine to deliver to the customer. 22:16.480 --> 22:19.480 They can't sell a gem and stir. It's used and worn. 22:19.480 --> 22:20.480 Is that all? 22:20.480 --> 22:24.480 Well, you see, he ordered a cleaner yesterday and he said the salesman promised to deliver it. 22:24.480 --> 22:25.480 But he never got it. 22:25.480 --> 22:26.480 What salesman? 22:26.480 --> 22:30.480 He didn't know the salesman's name. He described him as a small man. 22:30.480 --> 22:34.480 Yes, a small man. All the man wanted really was a vacuum cleaner. My goodness. 22:34.480 --> 22:35.480 He wanted something else. What? 22:35.480 --> 22:39.480 Well, he asked me for the address of that salesman. 22:39.480 --> 22:43.480 He said he wanted to talk to him about his vacuum cleaner that wasn't delivered. 22:43.480 --> 22:44.480 You gave the address to him? 22:44.480 --> 22:46.480 But I told you I don't know what salesman it is. 22:46.480 --> 22:51.480 It was just a little man, he said. So I remembered poor Hamilton. 22:51.480 --> 22:52.480 And I thought it might be... 22:52.480 --> 22:54.480 You told him where Hamilton lived? 22:54.480 --> 22:58.480 Oh, yes. Yes, I did. Did I do something wrong? 23:08.480 --> 23:14.480 Driving across town towards Hamilton's apartment, I kept thinking of Mary and her question about how a cop works. 23:14.480 --> 23:20.480 No miracles, no magnifying glass, no butt hounds, just facts. 23:20.480 --> 23:22.480 Facts to find a killer. 23:22.480 --> 23:25.480 An old house built with one of yesterday's great fortunes, 23:25.480 --> 23:28.480 a fortune that dwindled down to a handful of wedding rings. 23:28.480 --> 23:30.480 Diamonds. 23:30.480 --> 23:33.480 Twenty or thirty thousand dollars worth of motive. 23:33.480 --> 23:35.480 Facts. 23:35.480 --> 23:39.480 A tall and pretty who was money hungry and liked expensive clothes and cars. 23:39.480 --> 23:41.480 Facts. 23:41.480 --> 23:45.480 A vacuum cleaner salesman apartment without a vacuum cleaner. 23:49.480 --> 23:50.480 Hey. 23:50.480 --> 23:51.480 You held out on me. 23:51.480 --> 23:53.480 What do you mean? What do you mean this is a respectable apartment? 23:53.480 --> 23:55.480 You know how to throw that book at you? 23:55.480 --> 23:58.480 When I was here before, I went through Hamilton's apartment and there wasn't a vacuum cleaner there. 23:58.480 --> 23:59.480 But I never... 23:59.480 --> 24:01.480 Hamilton kept at least two cleaners here all the time. 24:01.480 --> 24:03.480 You kept still hoping to grab one for free. 24:03.480 --> 24:04.480 But I never saw any... 24:04.480 --> 24:07.480 He didn't keep them in his place. He didn't want to lug them up three flights. 24:07.480 --> 24:09.480 He kept them somewhere on this floor. 24:09.480 --> 24:10.480 I didn't think you'd care. 24:10.480 --> 24:11.480 Why was it? 24:11.480 --> 24:13.480 The hall closet and back. He had a key. 24:13.480 --> 24:15.480 You'll give me yours now. 24:20.480 --> 24:23.480 And that's where I found the old lady's wedding rings. 24:23.480 --> 24:26.480 The sack on that demonstrator Hamilton used in her house. 24:26.480 --> 24:27.480 Facts. 24:27.480 --> 24:29.480 I had all of them now. 24:29.480 --> 24:31.480 A minute later I heard feet on the stairs. 24:31.480 --> 24:35.480 I left the cleaner sitting there in the hall and stepped back into the shadows and waited. 24:35.480 --> 24:37.480 Waited for my killer. 24:37.480 --> 24:38.480 Oh. 24:38.480 --> 24:40.480 Hello sweetheart. I've been expecting you. 24:40.480 --> 24:41.480 We got business. 24:41.480 --> 24:42.480 Business? 24:42.480 --> 24:44.480 About your aunt's diamond rings. 24:44.480 --> 24:45.480 What are you talking about? 24:45.480 --> 24:46.480 Murder. 24:46.480 --> 24:47.480 Murder? 24:47.480 --> 24:50.480 There's an old lady waiting to die and you've been helping her with dope. 24:50.480 --> 24:52.480 Well, that's ridiculous. 24:52.480 --> 24:54.480 That's why you never let anybody in to see her. 24:54.480 --> 24:57.480 But you wanted some fun yesterday. Jokes. 24:57.480 --> 25:00.480 And you let a vacuum cleaner salesman named Hamilton come in and visit her. 25:00.480 --> 25:01.480 Now, see here, really... 25:01.480 --> 25:05.480 But as sick and as doped as she was, your aunt figured out a way so you'd never get those rings. 25:05.480 --> 25:07.480 She beat you, Dolph. 25:07.480 --> 25:08.480 All right, you've got to... 25:08.480 --> 25:10.480 When you weren't looking, she took them off and threw them under the vacuum cleaner. 25:10.480 --> 25:12.480 Now, we can come to some understanding of... 25:12.480 --> 25:14.480 She wouldn't talk to you. Remember the salesman? 25:14.480 --> 25:16.480 Trailed him all over town. 25:16.480 --> 25:19.480 And you found him at one place, along the line you stabbed him with a kitchen knife, sapped Mary... 25:19.480 --> 25:20.480 Mary? 25:20.480 --> 25:22.480 ...and did the covering up with a broken glass, lipstick and liquor. 25:22.480 --> 25:23.480 Mary? 25:23.480 --> 25:25.480 My wife, brother, and it's my place. 25:25.480 --> 25:26.480 Oh. 25:26.480 --> 25:28.480 When I look, I can get you money. 25:28.480 --> 25:30.480 Ten, fifteen thousand dollars. 25:30.480 --> 25:32.480 Thanks, that's what I've been waiting for. 25:32.480 --> 25:35.480 Please! 25:41.480 --> 25:43.480 He talked. 25:43.480 --> 25:45.480 Fact. 25:45.480 --> 25:48.480 Harold Dolph killed the salesman when he opened the cleaner and didn't find the rings. 25:48.480 --> 25:53.480 He didn't know that Hamilton had stopped off at his own place, where he left the demonstrator with the rings in the sack... 25:53.480 --> 25:56.480 ...and picked up the new one he was delivering to Mary. 26:00.480 --> 26:01.480 Irish. 26:01.480 --> 26:02.480 How did you do it? 26:02.480 --> 26:05.480 With a magnifying glass and bloodhound? 26:05.480 --> 26:08.480 You know, honey, you make with thanks. 26:08.480 --> 26:11.480 It starts with something you know for sure. 26:11.480 --> 26:14.480 The fact that my wife can't be a killer. 26:14.480 --> 26:32.480 You see, I love her too much. 26:32.480 --> 26:34.480 Suspense. 26:34.480 --> 26:36.480 Presented by Auto Light. 26:36.480 --> 26:38.480 Tonight's star, Alan Ladd. 26:38.480 --> 26:44.480 Say, Wilcox, I've decided never to hunt Irish camels again, big orie. 26:44.480 --> 26:46.480 Let me give you a tip, Reming Chester. 26:46.480 --> 26:49.480 You'll do better going for those Auto Light stay-full batteries... 26:49.480 --> 26:52.480 ...than the more than 400 other products made by Auto Light... 26:52.480 --> 26:56.480 ...for cars, trucks, planes and boats in 28 plants coast to coast. 26:56.480 --> 27:02.480 These include complete electrical systems used as original equipment on many makes of America's finest cars. 27:02.480 --> 27:08.480 Smart plugs, batteries, generators, coils, distributors, starting motors, bullseye sealed beam headlights. 27:08.480 --> 27:14.480 All engineered to fit together perfectly, work together perfectly because they're a perfect team. 27:14.480 --> 27:18.480 So friends, don't accept electrical parts supposed to be as good. 27:18.480 --> 27:21.480 Ask for and insist on Auto Light original factory parts... 27:21.480 --> 27:25.480 ...at your neighborhood service station, car dealer, garage or repair shop. 27:25.480 --> 27:34.480 Remember, you're always right with Auto Light. 27:34.480 --> 27:38.480 Next Thursday for Suspense, our star will be Ronald Reagan. 27:38.480 --> 27:41.480 The play is called One and One's Alonesome. 27:41.480 --> 27:45.480 And it is, as we say, a tale well calculated to keep you in... 27:45.480 --> 27:56.480 ...Suspense. 27:56.480 --> 27:59.480 Tonight's Suspense play was produced and edited by William Spear... 27:59.480 --> 28:02.480 ...and directed and transcribed by Norman MacDonald. 28:02.480 --> 28:07.480 Music for Suspense is composed by Lucian Moraweck and conducted by Lud Bluskin. 28:07.480 --> 28:12.480 Motif for Murder was written by John and Ward Hawkins and adapted for radio by Jack Newman. 28:12.480 --> 28:17.480 Alan Ladd will soon be seen in the Paramount picture Captain Carrie USA. 28:17.480 --> 28:28.480 Don't forget, next Thursday same time, Auto Light will present Suspense starring Ronald Reagan. 28:28.480 --> 28:32.480 You can buy Auto Light staple batteries, Auto Light resistor or regular spark plugs... 28:32.480 --> 28:35.480 ...Auto Light electrical parts at your neighborhood Auto Light dealers. 28:35.480 --> 28:39.480 Switch to Auto Light. Good night. 28:39.480 --> 28:43.480 This week marks the 38th birthday of the Girl Scouts. 28:43.480 --> 28:49.480 Auto Light joins that celebration and sends its warmest greetings to more than a million Girl Scouts of the USA... 28:49.480 --> 28:54.480 ...who today are learning to become the better citizens of tomorrow. 28:54.480 --> 28:58.480 This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System. 28:58.480 --> 29:09.480 Music