WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:19.000 And now, tonight's presentation from radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense. 00:19.000 --> 00:22.120 Tonight, the story of a man who lost his shoes. 00:22.120 --> 00:26.080 And when you're suspected of murder and you've got to run for your life and the temperature 00:26.080 --> 00:31.080 is in the 90s, why then you're correct in saying it's too hot to live. 00:31.080 --> 00:36.080 Hey you, reloader! 00:36.080 --> 00:37.080 What? 00:37.080 --> 00:52.080 We don't sell tickets on this freight. 00:52.080 --> 00:55.080 It was empty, I didn't think anybody had mind. 00:55.080 --> 00:59.080 We're slowing down for a crossing, I don't want to find you when I come back. 00:59.080 --> 01:00.080 Where are we? 01:00.080 --> 01:02.080 Half mile from Marcus Junction. 01:02.080 --> 01:03.080 Thanks. 01:03.080 --> 01:07.080 Forget the thanks, just beat it before somebody inquisitive starts asking questions. 01:07.080 --> 01:16.080 Yeah, don't they always? 01:16.080 --> 01:21.080 The train rolls by slowly and the crossing bell warns that death is here. 01:21.080 --> 01:23.080 I don't recognize it though. 01:23.080 --> 01:35.080 I walk towards Marcus Junction, towards death. 01:35.080 --> 01:39.080 The sun is 11 o'clock high and starting to pucker the tar road. 01:39.080 --> 01:41.080 I'm heading in. 01:41.080 --> 01:45.080 Sweat is beginning to streak through the old sun-tan uniform and my shoes are sucking tar 01:45.080 --> 01:47.080 every time I lift them. 01:47.080 --> 01:51.080 The sole of one boot busts loose and starts flapping against the road. 01:51.080 --> 01:53.080 That's bad. 01:53.080 --> 01:57.080 A drifter needs a good pair of shoes and I'm on the drift. 01:57.080 --> 02:01.080 Marcus Junction, no different than any thousand others like it. 02:01.080 --> 02:05.080 About a mile square of small buildings all pasted together. 02:05.080 --> 02:09.080 I walk a couple of blocks without finding a shoemaker. 02:09.080 --> 02:12.080 The town is almost empty this Saturday morning. 02:12.080 --> 02:16.080 And then a door opens ahead of me and a big man steps out. 02:16.080 --> 02:18.080 Really big, both ways. 02:18.080 --> 02:20.080 Big high and big wide. 02:20.080 --> 02:26.080 He's wearing steel rimmed glasses screwed up tight above the pug nose of his round face 02:26.080 --> 02:31.080 and six full inches of hat brim circle the pink flesh like a halo. 02:31.080 --> 02:34.080 Good morning, son. 02:34.080 --> 02:36.080 My name's Benjamin. 02:36.080 --> 02:37.080 Benjamin Martin. 02:37.080 --> 02:39.080 Good morning, Mr. Martin. 02:39.080 --> 02:40.080 Benjamin, son. 02:40.080 --> 02:42.080 Call me Benjamin. 02:42.080 --> 02:47.080 That's the handle that shakes this pump. 02:47.080 --> 02:49.080 What's yours, boy? 02:49.080 --> 02:50.080 Jeff Casey. 02:50.080 --> 02:52.080 Jeffrey or Jefferson? 02:52.080 --> 02:53.080 Jefferson. 02:53.080 --> 02:54.080 Jefferson. 02:54.080 --> 02:55.080 That's a good name. 02:55.080 --> 03:02.080 Now, don't think I'm changing the subject, but where could I get this fixed, Benjamin? 03:02.080 --> 03:05.080 Well, pretty socks. 03:05.080 --> 03:07.080 They are at that. 03:07.080 --> 03:09.080 But who will take care of this shoe? 03:09.080 --> 03:12.080 Yeah, I'm going down to Stacy's for a coke. 03:12.080 --> 03:14.080 Shoe fixer's right next door. 03:14.080 --> 03:18.080 Come along, Jefferson. 03:18.080 --> 03:23.080 On my turn I see his left side, gun holstered high up on his hip 03:23.080 --> 03:27.080 and the gold star with the word sheriff glinting in the sunlight. 03:27.080 --> 03:30.080 Still wearing your old army clothes. 03:30.080 --> 03:33.080 I hear those duds wear like iron. 03:33.080 --> 03:37.080 You just throw them away when they start to rust. 03:37.080 --> 03:39.080 Uniforms wear forever. 03:39.080 --> 03:41.080 I believe you've seen their last war. 03:41.080 --> 03:42.080 Where were you in, boy? 03:42.080 --> 03:43.080 Air Corps. 03:43.080 --> 03:44.080 Captain. 03:44.080 --> 03:48.080 Uniform, sweet pay, and lots of respect. 03:48.080 --> 03:50.080 You miss it, Jefferson? 03:50.080 --> 03:52.080 Maybe I do. 03:52.080 --> 03:54.080 What are you looking for now? 03:54.080 --> 03:58.080 I'm not looking for anything, just living, more or less. 03:58.080 --> 04:01.080 A man ought to find more to do with his life than that. 04:01.080 --> 04:03.080 It's all the same to me. 04:03.080 --> 04:07.080 I could die today and it wouldn't make any difference to me or anyone else. 04:07.080 --> 04:12.080 You've got a bad taste in your mouth, but you'll spit it out someday. 04:12.080 --> 04:16.080 Eee, daddy like this weather. 04:16.080 --> 04:20.080 If it gets any warmer, it'll be almost too hot to live. 04:20.080 --> 04:23.080 In a manner of speaking, you understand. 04:23.080 --> 04:25.080 Yeah, I understand. 04:25.080 --> 04:27.080 Well, here's a shoe repair. 04:27.080 --> 04:29.080 I'll be next door. 04:29.080 --> 04:33.080 Leave your shoes and waddle in on them pretty socks of yours. 04:33.080 --> 04:36.080 I'll buy you a drink, Coke or coffee. 04:36.080 --> 04:40.080 The shoemaker tells me that my shoes will take a couple of hours, 04:40.080 --> 04:43.080 so I start next door to join Benjamin. 04:43.080 --> 04:47.080 I don't know, maybe I'm feeling pretty good, but I pull an old schoolboy trick of mine. 04:47.080 --> 04:52.080 I take off my socks, roll them up and throw them on the counter with my shoes. 04:52.080 --> 04:58.080 Then I walk outside to feel a cool shaded cement trickle up through the bottom of my bare feet. 04:58.080 --> 05:03.080 Through the store window next door, I see the four people in the restaurant. 05:03.080 --> 05:06.080 Benjamin waves for me to come in. 05:06.080 --> 05:14.080 Inside the entrance, a blonde sliver of a man who's showing about three inches of wrist and shin bone below the edges of his clothes. 05:14.080 --> 05:19.080 The squat moon-faced grill man has his Popeyes focused intently on the argument. 05:19.080 --> 05:26.080 His flabby hands, purple-red from too much hot soapy water and frying grease, make fluttering passes at a fly. 05:26.080 --> 05:30.080 Now look, I want you to get out of here once and for all. 05:30.080 --> 05:35.080 I go in, brushing past the argument, walk over to Benjamin and sit on the next stool. 05:35.080 --> 05:38.080 And I shall return. Though she's scared, I must run. 05:38.080 --> 05:39.080 Hi, Jefferson. 05:39.080 --> 05:40.080 Hi, Benjamin, came for the coffee. 05:40.080 --> 05:43.080 In a minute, Rachel's about finished. 05:43.080 --> 05:49.080 And all her sins was find her out. She's a Jezebel and kin only to the devil. 05:49.080 --> 05:52.080 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You'll find it on the menu next week. 05:52.080 --> 05:55.080 Now find yourself a street corner and get it out of your system. 05:55.080 --> 06:00.080 Oh, you are bad, bad beyond all hope. 06:00.080 --> 06:03.080 See you around, Pop. I don't hope. 06:03.080 --> 06:05.080 The girl plays rough. 06:05.080 --> 06:11.080 Well, that's just Rachel's way, Jefferson. I see you lean to bare feet. 06:11.080 --> 06:13.080 What's your friend having, Buster? 06:13.080 --> 06:15.080 Benjamin, Rachel, Benjamin. 06:15.080 --> 06:21.080 Maybe smart to tack nicknames on people, but my folks figured me for a Benjamin and I like it that way. 06:21.080 --> 06:23.080 Sure, Buster. What'll it be, soldier? 06:23.080 --> 06:28.080 Black coffee, lady. And don't let the uniform throw you. I'm no soldier anymore. 06:28.080 --> 06:37.080 The Hollywood line of her mouth twists up into a lopsided kind of inviting grin as she turns to get the coffee. 06:37.080 --> 06:43.080 I watch the dark shadows that follow the rippling lines of her uniform when she moves. 06:43.080 --> 06:47.080 Rachel is quite a woman. All woman. 06:47.080 --> 06:51.080 Coffee, barefoot. Like you, soldier. 06:51.080 --> 06:54.080 Hey, your friend's real pretty, Buster. 06:54.080 --> 06:56.080 Yeah, you think everybody's pretty. 06:56.080 --> 07:00.080 Oh, but he's a doll. You be around long, soldier? 07:00.080 --> 07:04.080 Long enough to get my shoes fixed, Rachel. 07:04.080 --> 07:08.080 Rachel, that name doesn't go with you. 07:08.080 --> 07:14.080 It's a name. Too bad you're moving on so soon. New faces are scarce around here. 07:14.080 --> 07:17.080 Especially one like yours. 07:17.080 --> 07:25.080 Well, I got some law to enforce. Will I see you before you go, Jefferson? 07:25.080 --> 07:26.080 I'll find you, Benjamin. 07:26.080 --> 07:32.080 Do that, boy. I'm afraid to face that heat out there. Now, you behave yourself, Rachel. 07:32.080 --> 07:35.080 Yeah, yeah, yes, well. 07:35.080 --> 07:38.080 You like playing it tough? 07:38.080 --> 07:44.080 Under it all beats a heart of gold. Tell me what it's like in the world outside, soldier. 07:44.080 --> 07:46.080 Hey, Rachel, why don't you put up some more coffee? 07:46.080 --> 07:49.080 Tandy your bacon, lover. I got company. 07:49.080 --> 07:50.080 Your boyfriend? 07:50.080 --> 07:55.080 Loverboy there? Oh, no, that's Kenny. He's keeping company with a hot grill. 07:55.080 --> 07:57.080 You ought to talk about me like that, Rachel. It's not right. 07:57.080 --> 08:02.080 Well, then don't bother me while I'm with my friends. 08:02.080 --> 08:05.080 Hey, soldier, I'm off about now. 08:05.080 --> 08:07.080 Why don't you and me go out to carnival for a couple of hours, huh? 08:07.080 --> 08:09.080 You let her alone. Don't go with her, you hear? 08:09.080 --> 08:15.080 Yeah, I hear, Kenny. I'd like to, Rachel, but how do I go barefoot? 08:15.080 --> 08:17.080 Oh, forget. 08:17.080 --> 08:20.080 Got any other ideas? 08:20.080 --> 08:25.080 Yeah, matter of fact, I live upstairs over this greasy spool. 08:25.080 --> 08:29.080 Let's go up and mix ourselves something cool while we wait for your shoes. 08:29.080 --> 08:32.080 You can't do that. It isn't nice. It don't look right. 08:32.080 --> 08:35.080 Don't it? Let's go, Rachel. 08:35.080 --> 08:38.080 Don't. You can't. I'll stop you. 08:38.080 --> 08:42.080 Go hash some potatoes, lover. My arm, soldier. 08:42.080 --> 08:47.080 No, no, Rachel. I'll get someone to tend here. I'll come right up. 08:47.080 --> 08:50.080 You do and I'll barbecue you on your own grill. 08:53.080 --> 08:58.080 We go out and my feet scruff over the shaded pavement as we pass through the doorway on the left. 08:58.080 --> 09:06.080 I follow her up a flight of stairs and into a small box-like apartment, living room, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. 09:06.080 --> 09:09.080 Be it ever so humble, this is home. 09:09.080 --> 09:12.080 Let's kick out a wall or something. 09:12.080 --> 09:15.080 The windows don't help much, but the drinks will. 09:15.080 --> 09:18.080 Why do you have to lean into the kitchen? Why not just walk in? 09:18.080 --> 09:22.080 Fresh varnish on the floor. The heat don't let it dry. 09:22.080 --> 09:25.080 It's a long reach for a long drink. 09:25.080 --> 09:27.080 It's a long day. 09:30.080 --> 09:33.080 There you go, soldier. 09:33.080 --> 09:35.080 Don't you believe in mixing anything with your liquor? 09:35.080 --> 09:39.080 What for? The cubes will melt. 09:39.080 --> 09:43.080 Now, what do we drink to, soldier? 09:43.080 --> 09:44.080 The heat. 09:44.080 --> 09:49.080 The heat. Cools you off, don't it? 09:50.080 --> 09:53.080 It burns its way down my stomach and explodes. 09:53.080 --> 09:55.080 That's good, ain't it, soldier? 09:55.080 --> 09:58.080 My pores open and the perspiration oozes down. 09:58.080 --> 10:00.080 Here, let's have another. Don't let it wear off. 10:00.080 --> 10:02.080 She's still talking, but I'm going numb. 10:02.080 --> 10:04.080 Let's drink to my catch. 10:04.080 --> 10:07.080 No heat, no food. 10:07.080 --> 10:10.080 I shouldn't be drinking. Who cares? 10:10.080 --> 10:12.080 You're a real cute soldier. 10:12.080 --> 10:15.080 I'm getting foggy. Let's drink down to your touch. 10:15.080 --> 10:17.080 She's drifting closer. 10:17.080 --> 10:20.080 I don't know who kisses who first. 10:20.080 --> 10:22.080 Oh, yeah, you're real pretty. 10:22.080 --> 10:26.080 Bitter tears. Tears of loneliness and regret. 10:26.080 --> 10:28.080 Another drink, huh? Hey! 10:28.080 --> 10:32.080 Everything is moving around like feathers in a high wind. 10:32.080 --> 10:34.080 You're a real cute soldier, isn't it? 10:34.080 --> 10:37.080 And sometimes one drifts in through the fog. 10:37.080 --> 10:39.080 How? 10:43.080 --> 10:45.080 We're drinking. 10:45.080 --> 10:48.080 How many? I don't know. 10:48.080 --> 10:52.080 Breathing, sucking down scorching air, 10:52.080 --> 10:56.080 hot, damp waves of heat suffocating. 10:56.080 --> 10:58.080 She's close. 10:58.080 --> 11:02.080 Can smell perfume, cheap like tin earrings. 11:02.080 --> 11:04.080 Black rolling in. 11:04.080 --> 11:09.080 Black velvet in the shimmering heat. 11:09.080 --> 11:13.080 Wavering like plucking a taut string. 11:13.080 --> 11:28.080 Wavering, wavering, wavering. 11:28.080 --> 11:31.080 There's a steady sound, sharp, smart little cracks. 11:31.080 --> 11:33.080 All right. 11:33.080 --> 11:35.080 I tear my eyelids apart and a flash of ceiling whirls by. 11:35.080 --> 11:37.080 All right, come on. 11:37.080 --> 11:40.080 A purple-red mass is coming toward my face, and when it hits... 11:40.080 --> 11:44.080 There's a sound in the ceiling moving the other way. 11:44.080 --> 11:48.080 A frozen kind of pain is seeping through to my brain, 11:48.080 --> 11:50.080 and I can make out a voice now. 11:50.080 --> 11:53.080 I get my hand up to my face and wipe my eyes. 11:53.080 --> 11:56.080 My hand comes away wet and sticky and red. 11:56.080 --> 11:59.080 The ugly purple mass comes. 11:59.080 --> 12:02.080 Awake now? Swell. 12:02.080 --> 12:04.080 I got something for you. 12:04.080 --> 12:06.080 Over there, in the corner of the kitchen. 12:06.080 --> 12:08.080 See how she's lying there? 12:08.080 --> 12:10.080 Take your hands off me. 12:10.080 --> 12:12.080 That's how I found her. 12:12.080 --> 12:15.080 You beside her and your filthy hands still tight around her throat. 12:15.080 --> 12:18.080 What's the matter with my hands? 12:18.080 --> 12:20.080 Sticky, wet. 12:20.080 --> 12:22.080 That's varnish and blood, your blood. 12:22.080 --> 12:24.080 See that knife in her hand? 12:24.080 --> 12:26.080 She cut you trying to stop you. 12:26.080 --> 12:28.080 You killed her. 12:28.080 --> 12:34.080 You killed Rachel. 12:34.080 --> 12:37.080 He doesn't make any kind of sense. 12:37.080 --> 12:40.080 The bathroom door is open, and I stagger towards it, 12:40.080 --> 12:44.080 stepping on broken glass, pain stinging, remembering bare feet. 12:44.080 --> 12:47.080 The open shower waiting for me. 12:47.080 --> 12:50.080 I turn the handle to the cold water and half throw myself 12:50.080 --> 12:53.080 into the shock of the cold stream. 12:53.080 --> 12:55.080 I'm coming alive. 12:55.080 --> 12:57.080 The reaction's setting in. 12:57.080 --> 12:59.080 Fright. 12:59.080 --> 13:01.080 He said I'd killed her. 13:01.080 --> 13:04.080 Hey, Sheriff. Benjamin, hey, Benjamin, come up here. 13:04.080 --> 13:06.080 I got a dirty killer for you. 13:06.080 --> 13:09.080 That lousy friend of yours killed Rachel. 13:09.080 --> 13:11.080 Come and get him. 13:15.080 --> 13:18.080 Kenny shouting out the window in the other room to Benjamin. 13:18.080 --> 13:20.080 I gotta get away, gotta think. 13:20.080 --> 13:22.080 What happened, what? 13:22.080 --> 13:25.080 I get through the bathroom window out into the glare of the sun, 13:25.080 --> 13:28.080 and my feet hit the scalding car of the marquee. 13:28.080 --> 13:31.080 I scramble across it, drop to the street, a narrow alley, 13:31.080 --> 13:34.080 and I'm running down it toward the fence that blocks off the far end. 13:34.080 --> 13:37.080 A garbage can near the fence and a woman putting something into it. 13:37.080 --> 13:39.080 I jump, reaching for the fence. 13:39.080 --> 13:41.080 Hey, what do you think you're doing? 13:41.080 --> 13:42.080 Let me go, let go. 13:42.080 --> 13:44.080 Pick up that garbage, you crazy. 13:44.080 --> 13:45.080 Let go, I didn't do it. 13:45.080 --> 13:47.080 What do you mean? I saw you kick it over. 13:47.080 --> 13:48.080 I'm not gonna clean up that mess. 13:48.080 --> 13:50.080 I didn't kill her. Take your hands off me. 13:50.080 --> 13:51.080 Why would I kill Rachel? 13:51.080 --> 13:53.080 Why would you kill? 13:53.080 --> 14:08.080 All right, Jefferson, come along and tell me why you killed Rachel. 14:08.080 --> 14:12.080 You are listening to Mr. Sam Edwards in Sam Rolfe's story, 14:12.080 --> 14:16.080 Too Hot to Live, tonight's presentation in radio's outstanding 14:16.080 --> 14:29.080 theater of thrills, Suspense. 14:29.080 --> 14:32.080 Bachelor would be completely safe was on a stag line. 14:32.080 --> 14:35.080 Usually, of course, there's no more secure terrain, 14:35.080 --> 14:38.080 but a couple of slick swindlers figure out a new wrinkle in crime, 14:38.080 --> 14:43.080 and the stag line becomes the focal point for a neat, ruthless racket. 14:43.080 --> 14:46.080 Hear the complete story of the stag line swindlers tomorrow night 14:46.080 --> 14:52.080 when CBS radio presents the FBI in Peace and War on most of these same stations. 14:52.080 --> 14:56.080 And now we bring back to our Hollywood sound stage Mr. Sam Edwards 14:56.080 --> 15:00.080 in Elliot Lewis's production of Too Hot to Live, 15:00.080 --> 15:05.080 a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. 15:05.080 --> 15:18.080 Benjamin is leading me out into the sweltering street again. 15:18.080 --> 15:23.080 The sun burns into my flesh, accusing, as if to cause the murder 15:23.080 --> 15:26.080 to flow out of my open pores. 15:26.080 --> 15:31.080 And Benjamin walks beside me again, not holding me, just talking, 15:31.080 --> 15:35.080 asking questions, which I can't answer. 15:35.080 --> 15:36.080 Why'd you do it, son? 15:36.080 --> 15:40.080 I didn't kill her, Benjamin. I don't remember, but I... 15:40.080 --> 15:44.080 You don't sound sure, Jefferson. Now, don't you know? 15:44.080 --> 15:47.080 We were drinking. I blacked out. 15:47.080 --> 15:51.080 Drunk unconscious. You could still move around. 15:51.080 --> 15:53.080 You could do what was done in that apartment. 15:53.080 --> 15:56.080 But I couldn't. Why would I want to do a thing like that? 15:56.080 --> 16:01.080 Maybe you played it too rough. Maybe she tried to stop you, 16:01.080 --> 16:04.080 cut you with a knife. Why'd you run away? 16:04.080 --> 16:09.080 I... I was scared. Kenny said my hands were around her throat. 16:09.080 --> 16:11.080 Blood, varnish, heat. 16:11.080 --> 16:13.080 Remember anything? 16:13.080 --> 16:19.080 Rachel. Sprawling a gummy floor. I can't remember. 16:19.080 --> 16:21.080 Yeah? I'll have to lock you up, 16:21.080 --> 16:24.080 and then I'll go back and have a good look around. 16:24.080 --> 16:26.080 Maybe I'll find something. 16:26.080 --> 16:28.080 And if you don't... 16:28.080 --> 16:30.080 Rachel's dead, Jefferson. 16:30.080 --> 16:33.080 Wasn't premeditated, but that don't excuse it. 16:33.080 --> 16:35.080 She's still dead. 16:39.080 --> 16:41.080 They'll try to hang me. 16:41.080 --> 16:45.080 Why can't I remember what happened? What led to this? 16:45.080 --> 16:48.080 The sweats rolling down Benjamin's forehead, 16:48.080 --> 16:52.080 collecting along the top of his glasses, sliding into his eyes. 16:52.080 --> 16:55.080 They smart and snapped shut. 16:55.080 --> 16:58.080 He has to stop, try to rub the sting away. 16:58.080 --> 17:02.080 I slap the glasses, knocking off his face, and grab for his gun. 17:02.080 --> 17:04.080 His arm comes down, fast, hard, chopping at my hand, 17:04.080 --> 17:07.080 numbing the arm to the shoulder, and the gun falls to the road. 17:07.080 --> 17:09.080 I run, hobbling up and down, lopsided. 17:09.080 --> 17:10.080 Jefferson! 17:10.080 --> 17:13.080 Trying to get away from Benjamin, from the burning and torn feet under me. 17:13.080 --> 17:16.080 Come back! You can't get far, I'll get you anyway! 17:18.080 --> 17:21.080 I'm running again down the burning streets, out to the end of town. 17:21.080 --> 17:24.080 Toward the railroad, now off the searing pavement. 17:24.080 --> 17:28.080 But jagged rocks and sharp brush tear at the numb pain that is my feet. 17:28.080 --> 17:31.080 I run till my legs slide away from under me, 17:31.080 --> 17:34.080 then crawl, dragging a body that has no feeling. 17:34.080 --> 17:37.080 A dead weight that robs my arms of their strength. 17:37.080 --> 17:41.080 And finally, steel rails glisten ahead as I lay sprawled out, 17:41.080 --> 17:44.080 heart and lungs going crazy in my body. 17:44.080 --> 17:47.080 Something starts down in my chest, 17:47.080 --> 17:50.080 spreads up to my throat, spilling out of my mouth. 17:50.080 --> 17:52.080 I run, hob! 18:00.080 --> 18:04.080 An hour has passed, and the sun is moving away towards the west. 18:05.080 --> 18:08.080 No trains have passed, but it's all right. 18:09.080 --> 18:11.080 I know what I have to do now. 18:11.080 --> 18:15.080 Find Kenny, and one way or another force him to tell the truth, 18:15.080 --> 18:17.080 for he must be lying. 18:17.080 --> 18:22.080 I lick my handkerchief, and wipe the dried blood off my hands and feet. 18:22.080 --> 18:27.080 Comb my hair, throw away the army shirt, and move back to town. 18:27.080 --> 18:32.080 Stepping gently, I make my way up the back streets to the restaurant. 18:32.080 --> 18:36.080 Pulling my pants down low to cover as much of my bare feet as possible, 18:36.080 --> 18:38.080 I step inside. 18:38.080 --> 18:41.080 There's a stranger behind the counter. 18:41.080 --> 18:42.080 Well, howdy. 18:42.080 --> 18:44.080 Hi. 18:44.080 --> 18:46.080 Where's everybody in this town? 18:46.080 --> 18:48.080 Oh, most are out at the carnival. 18:48.080 --> 18:50.080 Some are looking for a killer roaming around. 18:50.080 --> 18:52.080 I heard about him. 18:52.080 --> 18:55.080 Heard he was picked up a couple of miles out. 18:55.080 --> 18:57.080 They got him. Good deal. 18:57.080 --> 18:59.080 You know, Rachel worked here. 18:59.080 --> 19:01.080 Yeah, I know. 19:01.080 --> 19:03.080 Say, where's Kenny? 19:03.080 --> 19:05.080 Oh, he's out at the Clovis place. 19:05.080 --> 19:09.080 He wanted to be the one to tell Rachel's folks about, you know. 19:09.080 --> 19:13.080 I guess I ought to go out there and pick him up. 19:13.080 --> 19:14.080 I don't know the place, too. 19:14.080 --> 19:15.080 Well, how do I get there? 19:15.080 --> 19:17.080 Oh, just follow this road down. 19:17.080 --> 19:20.080 About a half mile out of town, you'll find a dirt cutoff. 19:20.080 --> 19:21.080 Can't miss the mailbox. 19:21.080 --> 19:22.080 Thanks. 19:22.080 --> 19:24.080 Say, if you miss him, who'll I say was asking? 19:24.080 --> 19:27.080 Just tell him his cousin Jim was here. 19:27.080 --> 19:29.080 Well, pleased to have met... 19:29.080 --> 19:31.080 Hey, you ain't wearing shoes. 19:31.080 --> 19:34.080 You, you're the one. You're the killer. 19:37.080 --> 19:39.080 Run, run, run again. 19:39.080 --> 19:40.080 Another alley. 19:40.080 --> 19:44.080 Blistering pavements, cement ripping, and the jagged rocks again. 19:44.080 --> 19:46.080 Time is running, too. Running out. 19:46.080 --> 19:48.080 Benjamin will know where I'm going. 19:48.080 --> 19:50.080 Out to the main highway. 19:50.080 --> 19:52.080 Hands pulled low and thumb up in the air. 19:52.080 --> 19:54.080 Here comes my ride. 19:54.080 --> 19:56.080 He's got to stop. Got to stop. 19:56.080 --> 19:58.080 Please. 20:00.080 --> 20:02.080 Pepper, instead. 20:02.080 --> 20:04.080 Thanks, mister. Thanks a lot. 20:04.080 --> 20:06.080 You're welcome, but I'm not going far. 20:06.080 --> 20:09.080 I'm just going out to the Clovis farm. 20:09.080 --> 20:10.080 That's about... 20:10.080 --> 20:12.080 I know the place. 20:12.080 --> 20:13.080 Why are you going there now? 20:13.080 --> 20:16.080 I'm a cousin of Kenny's. I'm going to meet him out there. 20:16.080 --> 20:19.080 Oh. I don't place here. 20:19.080 --> 20:21.080 I'm visiting from back east. 20:21.080 --> 20:23.080 You're not wearing shoes. 20:23.080 --> 20:26.080 Ha. Yeah. 20:26.080 --> 20:28.080 That's a silly thing. 20:28.080 --> 20:32.080 I lost my shoes while wading barefoot in a stream. 20:32.080 --> 20:33.080 Didn't help my feet any. 20:33.080 --> 20:36.080 What stream is that for? 20:36.080 --> 20:39.080 You know the one. I don't know the name of it. 20:39.080 --> 20:41.080 It's out there in the woods. 20:41.080 --> 20:45.080 Yeah. I think I know the one. 20:45.080 --> 20:48.080 This is the dirt road you want. 20:48.080 --> 20:50.080 House is over the rise. 20:50.080 --> 20:52.080 Thanks again. 20:52.080 --> 20:54.080 See ya. 21:01.080 --> 21:04.080 I limp up the rising dirt path. 21:04.080 --> 21:07.080 At the top I turn for a look at my ride. 21:07.080 --> 21:10.080 He's swinging around towards town. 21:10.080 --> 21:13.080 Benjamin will get to me. And soon. 21:13.080 --> 21:18.080 An old two-storied farmhouse rises out of the cleared fields around me. 21:18.080 --> 21:24.080 A big gray barn stands off near the house and two old cars are sitting empty behind it. 21:24.080 --> 21:27.080 Kenny's got to come to one of them. 21:27.080 --> 21:29.080 I'll wait. 21:29.080 --> 21:32.080 Time still running out and away from me. 21:32.080 --> 21:37.080 Little shimmering waves of heat rise off the tin hoods of the cars. 21:37.080 --> 21:39.080 Here he comes. 21:39.080 --> 21:42.080 Now or never. 21:42.080 --> 21:44.080 Hey! 21:44.080 --> 21:47.080 Quiet! Quiet or I'll break your back! 21:47.080 --> 21:49.080 I want the truth, Kenny. 21:49.080 --> 21:51.080 The truth if I have to kill you for it. 21:51.080 --> 21:52.080 I didn't kill Rachel. 21:52.080 --> 21:53.080 You did. 21:53.080 --> 21:56.080 I didn't. I didn't. I didn't. 21:56.080 --> 21:59.080 You killed her. You were crazy jealous. 21:59.080 --> 22:00.080 No! 22:00.080 --> 22:03.080 Yes! You came to check up. You found us drunk and you got wild. You killed her. 22:03.080 --> 22:05.080 I didn't. I can prove it. 22:05.080 --> 22:06.080 Prove it? 22:06.080 --> 22:10.080 There wasn't three minutes between the time I left the restaurant and the time I called Benjamin. 22:10.080 --> 22:13.080 Not enough time to get up there, kill her and bring you around. 22:13.080 --> 22:14.080 Three minutes? 22:14.080 --> 22:17.080 I can prove it. That's all the time. 22:17.080 --> 22:20.080 You did it. You have cut hands from her knife. 22:20.080 --> 22:23.080 Those hands were still around her throat when I came in. You killed Rachel. 22:27.080 --> 22:30.080 And there it is. He isn't lying about the three minutes. 22:30.080 --> 22:34.080 That gloating smirk on his face tells me that I had killed her. 22:34.080 --> 22:37.080 The horror of this afternoon had been for nothing. 22:37.080 --> 22:41.080 I'd tried to save my life. Instead I'd proven myself guilty. 22:41.080 --> 22:44.080 Tied the rope finally and for all time around my neck. 22:44.080 --> 22:47.080 Shoot him! Don't just stand there, shoot! 22:47.080 --> 22:49.080 He's the man who killed your daughter. 22:53.080 --> 23:01.080 He stands there watching the gaunt sliver of a man with shins and freshly scarred wrists exposed below the edges of his clothing. 23:01.080 --> 23:04.080 A double-barrel shotgun is cradled in his arms when he just looks at me. 23:04.080 --> 23:07.080 A wild fire striking out of the black pupils of his eyes. 23:07.080 --> 23:11.080 Shoot him! He killed your daughter! He killed Rachel! 23:11.080 --> 23:15.080 So you're her father. I thought it was a nickname. 23:15.080 --> 23:18.080 She was no daughter of mine. 23:18.080 --> 23:23.080 She was born to me and I named her Rachel from the Bible. 23:23.080 --> 23:26.080 But she was the daughter of Satan. 23:26.080 --> 23:28.080 I'm sorry, Mr. Clovis. 23:28.080 --> 23:30.080 Shoot him! Because of him Rachel is dead. 23:30.080 --> 23:33.080 She turned away from me. 23:33.080 --> 23:36.080 But within me the voice was strong. 23:36.080 --> 23:41.080 I followed her begging, reading to her from the book. 23:41.080 --> 23:44.080 To the place where she lived, where she worked. 23:44.080 --> 23:47.080 But she turned me away with curses. 23:47.080 --> 23:50.080 I'm sorry, I was drunk, crazy. 23:50.080 --> 23:56.080 In that apartment, the stench of drink like an evil cloud. 23:56.080 --> 24:01.080 You lying there, drunk with a devilish fever. 24:01.080 --> 24:03.080 You... you were there! 24:03.080 --> 24:05.080 Shut up, you crazy old fool! 24:05.080 --> 24:08.080 She took a knife to drive me out. 24:08.080 --> 24:15.080 These scars on my wrists, vile words, attacked me. 24:15.080 --> 24:19.080 And it came to me like a voice from on high. 24:19.080 --> 24:22.080 I knew what I must do. 24:22.080 --> 24:25.080 You killed her! It wasn't me, it was you! 24:25.080 --> 24:27.080 I knew you couldn't keep your mouth shut. 24:27.080 --> 24:29.080 You knew he did it, Kenny. 24:29.080 --> 24:32.080 You tried to make me believe I'd been the one. Why? 24:32.080 --> 24:35.080 You... you and tramps like you. 24:35.080 --> 24:38.080 Always keeping her from me. 24:38.080 --> 24:40.080 Coming along every time. 24:40.080 --> 24:42.080 I couldn't know this, Kenny. 24:42.080 --> 24:47.080 You didn't care. You laughed at me, made Rachel laugh at me. 24:47.080 --> 24:50.080 I passed the old man when I went up. 24:50.080 --> 24:52.080 I knew as soon as I walked into the room. 24:52.080 --> 24:54.080 And you tried to blame it on me. 24:54.080 --> 24:56.080 It wasn't the crazy old goat who killed her. 24:56.080 --> 24:58.080 It was you and men like you. 24:58.080 --> 24:59.080 She would have married me. 24:59.080 --> 25:02.080 But you and your kind came along. 25:02.080 --> 25:05.080 I hate you. You did kill her. 25:05.080 --> 25:07.080 And you'll die for it. 25:07.080 --> 25:08.080 Give me the gun, old man. 25:08.080 --> 25:10.080 No, no, Kenny, not now. 25:10.080 --> 25:12.080 Turn around, soldier. 25:12.080 --> 25:14.080 Turn around and see it when it happens. 25:14.080 --> 25:16.080 What of your gun, Kenneth? 25:16.080 --> 25:18.080 No. 25:18.080 --> 25:19.080 No! 25:19.080 --> 25:24.080 Ow! 25:29.080 --> 25:31.080 All right, Jefferson. 25:31.080 --> 25:33.080 We'll go home now. 25:33.080 --> 25:37.080 The Sun is moving down low in the skies, 25:37.080 --> 25:40.080 and a cool light breeze has come up from somewhere. 25:40.080 --> 25:44.080 I'm leaning back on the front seat besides Benjamin, 25:44.080 --> 25:47.080 breathing deeply, evenly, 25:47.080 --> 25:51.080 feeling the goodness of just living seep through. 25:51.080 --> 25:55.080 In the back seat, the old man is sitting in his chair. 25:55.080 --> 26:01.180 He's got a little bit of a 26:01.180 --> 26:03.180 little bit of a sense of humor. 26:03.180 --> 26:07.180 In the back seat, the old man Clovis sits staring ahead, 26:07.180 --> 26:10.180 not even aware of the blanket-wrapped body of Kenny 26:10.180 --> 26:12.180 lying on the floor at his feet. 26:12.180 --> 26:14.180 If you hadn't been so eager to run, 26:14.180 --> 26:17.180 I could have saved your feet a lot of wear. 26:17.180 --> 26:19.180 I knew you weren't a murderer, son. 26:19.180 --> 26:21.180 You knew? 26:21.180 --> 26:23.180 Sure, I went back to the apartment. 26:23.180 --> 26:26.180 The old story's there in the varnish on the kitchen floor. 26:26.180 --> 26:29.180 No marks of bare feet around the body, 26:29.180 --> 26:32.180 but you cut your hand on broken glass in the living room. 26:32.180 --> 26:34.180 It bled. 26:34.180 --> 26:38.180 And his eye was running. 26:38.180 --> 26:40.180 Yes. 26:40.180 --> 26:43.180 For a man who don't care whether he lives or dies, 26:43.180 --> 26:46.180 you sure got lots of jackrabbit in your legs. 26:46.180 --> 26:48.180 What a day. 26:48.180 --> 26:51.180 It's been quite a day, Benjamin. 26:51.180 --> 26:54.180 Sure has been a scorcher, ain't it? 26:54.180 --> 26:57.180 Glad to see the sun going down. 26:57.180 --> 27:01.180 On a day like this, it's almost too hot to live. 27:01.180 --> 27:03.180 Don't say that, Benjamin. 27:03.180 --> 27:30.180 It never gets that hot. 27:30.180 --> 27:36.180 Suspense, in which Sam Edwards was starred in Too Hot to Live. 27:36.180 --> 27:40.180 Next week, the story of a woman who had a strange visitor, 27:40.180 --> 27:43.180 a man who wanted to spend a day with her, 27:43.180 --> 27:46.180 just waiting until her husband got home from work 27:46.180 --> 27:48.180 so that he could kill him. 27:48.180 --> 27:50.180 It's called The Tip. 27:50.180 --> 27:55.180 That's next week on Suspense. 27:55.180 --> 28:10.180 Suspense is produced and directed by Elliot Lewis, 28:10.180 --> 28:12.180 with music composed by Lucian Morrowick 28:12.180 --> 28:14.180 and conducted by Lud Gluskin. 28:14.180 --> 28:18.180 Too Hot to Live was written for Suspense by Sam Rolfe. 28:18.180 --> 28:21.180 In tonight's story, Sam Edwards was heard as Jefferson 28:21.180 --> 28:23.180 and Paul Fries as Benjamin, 28:23.180 --> 28:26.180 featured on the cast were Mary Jane Croft, Lee Millar, 28:26.180 --> 28:31.180 Junius Matthews, Charles Calvert, Herb Butterfield, and Gene Wood. 28:31.180 --> 28:47.180 And remember, next week, Carl Abrams played The Tip. 28:47.180 --> 28:50.180 The tragic story of an unidentified boy hit by a car 28:50.180 --> 28:52.180 after hitching a ride on the back of a truck 28:52.180 --> 28:56.180 is told tomorrow night on CBS Radio's 21st Precinct. 28:56.180 --> 28:59.180 Police of the 21st Precinct track down the boy's identity 28:59.180 --> 29:02.180 through his sweater marked Red Tigers. 29:02.180 --> 29:04.180 Before they're through, even case-hardened cops 29:04.180 --> 29:07.180 have to swallow hard to keep back tears. 29:07.180 --> 29:09.180 Don't miss 21st Precinct tomorrow night 29:09.180 --> 29:17.180 on most of these same stations. 29:17.180 --> 29:20.180 He really clicks against criminals, crime photographer, 29:20.180 --> 29:23.180 on the CBS Radio Network.