And now, tonight's presentation of radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
Tonight, the story of a man who insisted upon finishing the murder he never committed.
We call it, Study of a Murderer.
So now, starring Charlotte Lawrence and William Conrad, here is tonight's suspense play, Study
of a Murderer.
It's funny to be married to a man three years, find out he's kept secrets from you.
Not secrets like drinking or cards or women.
Hank was never like that.
I mean he was like two different men, really two men.
He kept it even a secret from himself.
That's what I'm beginning to understand.
Because the man I knew, loved, was a wonderful, sweet husband.
The doctor says, he says the baby coming on its way, he won't inherit it because nobody
can inherit Hank's kind of trouble, his sickness.
And I'm not asking for sympathy, I'm just telling you that's all.
I never asked for help, neither did Hank.
Oh no, he did ask, in the only way he could.
He tried to ask to let me know, but it was too late.
It was last spring, it was that day he came home so upset.
Hank, is that you?
Hi darling.
Hi.
Good day at work?
Yeah, yeah sure.
Have something real good for dinner.
What are the headlines?
What do you mean?
I mean what's the headline?
In the paper.
Murder?
What?
The headline, didn't you ask me what the headlines were?
Oh yes honey, sure.
What is it, don't you feel well?
What should it be, what's it always?
The paper's jammed up to here with murder and killing all the time.
A man comes home from work and it, well work's hard enough, but a man comes home and he sees
pictures and columns on a mother and a baby, killed down near the lake.
A mother and a baby murdered.
It's sickening.
But Hank was always like that, one way or another.
He gets upset like that when the pressure's too heavy.
When it lets up he's okay again.
Except it didn't let up.
Not this time.
Because a couple of weeks later it really hit.
Well it's my last paycheck and the boom dropped.
Oh no.
Yeah, me and about eight other guys.
Oh Hank, I'm sorry.
You know it makes a guy think he doesn't count for much.
That's not true darling.
You begin to think on a job that maybe they can't get along without you, that you're pretty
important and the whole place would fold if you left.
And then poof, bye bye sonny boy.
Maybe they had a good reason.
Oh yeah sure sure.
You say it and they say it and that's right only something inside me says that it just
got kicked and I don't amount to much at all.
Not much at all.
Well I'm plenty see, I'm plenty.
Yes darling I know you are.
Yeah but then I figure I'm kind of lucky too.
We both are.
Luckier than the poor guy whose wife got killed with a baby.
Luckier than him.
Hank you can't go on getting upset by that.
You can't.
You can't do one another.
There's been a second killing here in Lincoln Park just like the first one and the papers
are full of it.
Wouldn't you like your dinner?
Hank will you please stop reading about those murders?
Hank you're not listening.
What?
Oh sure I am.
Why don't we go to the beach?
Wouldn't it be swell or the amusement park?
Remember last year we went that was fun.
You winning the Cupid doll and all.
It was fun wasn't it darling?
It was.
Can't you stop looking at that paper for a minute?
I just wanted to find whether there's a news broadcast.
There must be one on now.
No.
What?
We've had enough of those murders.
You have to stop thinking about them all the time every minute.
That's all you think about.
You've got to stop.
Don't tell me what to do.
Not like that.
Ever.
Hank I...
I'm sorry darling.
I said I'm sorry if I said...
Unfortunately I'm...
The chief of police says it's almost impossible to tell where the maniac will strike next.
There have been a few clues to indicate the man was...
Oh Hank.
I didn't know what was happening to Hank.
I guess a man gets kind of dizzy just from being alive sometimes.
It's from being hit too many times by too many things.
All kinds of things.
Half of them I didn't understand and still don't all the way.
But I should have understood.
Three months later that summer night.
Three months later...
Look at them.
Look at all these papers.
All the same story of everybody running around getting no place.
Hank.
Must you bring all the papers home?
Couldn't you read them at Walgreens?
No.
No I couldn't.
Bums read the papers for free and I'm no bum.
I got a wife and I'm no bum.
What are you accusing me of then?
I'm not a good husband?
No Hank.
No but I'm not accusing you of anything.
You mustn't think that.
You act like I did something wrong.
Not like I'm just out of work but like I was almost a murderer.
Like I was that murderer they're all looking for.
Oh it's hot.
It's too hot in here.
Would you like a cold glass of beer?
Yeah.
Beer.
Nice tall glass of beer.
Only not here.
Not in this house.
At Marty's on the corner.
That's the place for a beer.
But it costs so much more.
Yeah I know darling but I just got to get out of here.
I got to get with people.
Oh yes darling of course.
I have a few dollars.
I've been saving it for celebration.
Let's do it.
It'll be fun.
I only have three dollars and twenty eight cents.
Funny to remember it exactly like that.
Three dollars and twenty eight cents that I slipped into his pocket when he wasn't looking.
And we had beer with the jukebox banging away and me shaking inside.
Shaking.
I just kept sipping my one beer and watching Hank.
Maybe waiting for him to smile or to make a joke.
Then I'd know everything was okay.
But he never smiled.
Didn't even talk.
Just drank beer and glared.
You know what at?
He just glared at himself in the mirror.
Just glared at himself until he stood up.
Gonna go.
All right darling.
Let's go.
No.
Me.
By myself.
But Hank you're kind of tight darling.
Kind of.
Come on.
Let me take your arm.
Don't pull me.
Please.
Please Hank.
I said don't pull me.
Now leave me alone.
I'm getting out of here.
He almost ran out of the place.
I knew if I followed him I'd see something terrible.
But I had to know.
I had to know if what I guessed was true.
And then I saw him rush up to a cop on Lake Street and scream something at him.
I couldn't hear.
I couldn't hear at all.
And a crowd was there in no time.
I killed him.
But I can't stand anymore.
Please.
Oh please let me through.
I'm his wife.
I can't stand anymore.
I'm his wife.
Please.
Please let me through.
I can't stand anymore.
Please let me through.
Hank.
Hank darling.
Hank.
Please he didn't do anything.
I can't stand it anymore.
I can't stand the killing and the murder anymore.
I can't stand it anymore.
I waited in that police station for hours.
I waited and wondered because no one told me anything except one man.
He gave me a cigarette and talked to me.
And then hours, oh, hours and hours later, he called me into his office.
Sit down, Mrs. Later.
Can I see him?
Can I?
In a few minutes.
Oh, thank you. Thank you so much, Mr.
Doctor, Doctor Broughton.
I told you hours ago in the outside office. Did you hear me then?
Oh, yes. Yes, I remember.
And the rest of what I told you?
Please let me see him. He didn't do any harm. He didn't kill anyone. He didn't kill anyone.
We know he didn't, Mrs. Lathrop.
What? You know? You're sure you know?
Please listen to me.
He didn't kill anybody.
But he could. He might.
How can you say that? Haven't I been through enough? Don't say that to me.
He confessed to two murders he didn't commit. He admitted to two murders he had no part of.
Then he didn't do wrong. Nothing wrong.
Will you permit your husband to take treatment?
You're saying he should be put away. You're saying he's crazy.
I'm saying he has an illness. I'm saying he's sick and he can be cured now. Maybe not later, but now he can.
No. All he needs is love and kindness.
Only words. They have no meaning to him right now. They might have had once, but not now.
He should be treated. I should bring him before a board and have him undergo therapy.
I'll fight you. I'll work day and night to get the money, but I'll fight you with lawyers to keep you from disgracing him like that.
You won't have to. As a doctor, I say he's dangerous, but no court would uphold me.
He hasn't committed any overt act. To all appearances, he's normal.
He is. He is normal.
He isn't, but we can't make him accept help. You're the only one who can do that.
No. He can be cured now.
No. He confesses to murders. He imagines. He's committed.
He needs love, not psycho doctors like you.
He might easily commit murder if he doesn't get help.
Take me to my husband.
A month, six months, a year. I don't know when, but he'll kill Mrs. Lathrop. He'll kill.
You are listening to Study of a Murderer, tonight's presentation in radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense.
It's a good rule to clean up burnables. Don't let them accumulate, or they might someday catch fire.
Fire prevention is far less costly than fire repairs.
Don't let anything you don't need pile up around the house as a latent threat of fire.
And now we bring back to our Hollywood soundstage, Charlotte Lawrence and William Conrad, starring in tonight's production of Study of a Murderer,
a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense.
I took him right home. Sleep. He needed sleep. More sleep than he could ever get.
I sat by the bed all that time, all the time wiping his face with cold cloth and waiting, waiting and kissing him when he'd start that awful moaning.
Love was all he needed. That's what I was so sure about then. So awful sure while he slept like he'd been hit or something.
For 16 hours, 16 straight hours, and I knew he'd be fine. Just fine.
He couldn't kill. Not Hank. Oh no, he'd be fine.
I remembered from a magazine or something. I turned on the radio. I remember that music helps people who are upset kind of.
So I turned it on real soft.
Beth? Yes, darling. What time is it? 8.30 about. I've been sleeping long? It's 8.30 in the night.
You know why I did it? It's not important. No, but it is. No, darling. No, it isn't. It's past. It doesn't make any difference.
Showing off. That's what it was. Showing them up. The cops, I mean. Whatever your reason was. It was yours. It's all right, honey.
You don't believe me. You don't believe I did it to show them up. Whatever your real... Well, it was. It was the only reason.
Lie back, darling. Lie back and rest, Hank.
It's a disgrace. It's a real disgrace. I'm nothing. I'm nothing.
I even... like a kid, I even feel like I could cry.
Cry, darling. A man isn't weak if he cries. Just had too much happen to him. Like women have too much happen.
Like anybody. Cry. You'll feel better, baby. You will. You will.
I'm weak. No woman likes a man who's weak. No woman likes a man who can't admit he's weak sometimes.
But you never saw me cry. I never cried before. I never cried when I was a kid, even. Never.
I love you, darling. You have to know that. I love you.
You wouldn't leave me, would you? Never. You don't believe what that doctor said. What doctor? The police. That doctor.
What did he tell you? Nothing, but I got the idea. I smelled it. I figured out what he was driving at.
But he didn't say much to me. He's a liar. But publicity. All those guys are like anything for publicity.
I can't blame him. I did it for publicity. Really, that's why I did it.
No, don't believe me. I don't know why I did it. I don't know why.
Because you had too many bad things happen in a row. Because you had too much beer, too much hit you, too much all at once.
I don't know why. I felt like somebody should be punished for all those terrible, terrible murders.
Like somebody should. Somebody had to. Listen, we'll move from Chicago. Maybe change our name.
But run away? Not run away. Leave. Put it all in back of us. Run away like I did something wrong?
I told you not run away. Don't twist what I'm saying. I only said... That I should run away from here with you and let them push us away.
Well, nobody pushes me around. No, Hank, I know that nobody does. Nobody leads me places like I was a kid.
It was only a suggestion. Did that doctor tell you to say that to me? No, I told you the doctor didn't tell me anything.
You're lying. You're keeping things from me. He must have told you something. He didn't, not really. He just said for me to take good care of you, that's all.
What else did he say? What? I don't know. Nothing. Just... What else? Tell me! I don't know!
Do you want to turn him over to me, Mrs. Lather? No, not that. Well, then, why did you come to see me? For advice.
You've done what you could. Why don't you make him submit to care, Mrs. Lather? There's still time. Only if he wants to.
He'll never agree. Not now. Not by himself. He will. He has to. Logic doesn't reach him very well.
This is something more than logic, more than doctors or anything else. He'll want to get cured when he knows he's going to be a father.
Well, doctor, don't you figure it that way, too, doctor? Don't tell him. Not tell him? Not tell him we're going to have a child, something we both wanted so much?
It might have the wrong effect right now. Oh, no. It'll make him stronger, make him more sure of himself.
It makes some men stronger. It can make others weaker, less sure, less certain.
Is that all the advice you can give me? Not to tell him, not to tell my husband he's going to be a father?
Tell me honestly, Mrs. Lathrop, do you feel he's getting better or worse?
It's not fair. Will you talk to him about getting treatment? I'm not promising anything.
Will you mention the baby? I said no promises. If he slaps you again, will you call me? Goodbye.
It may be your life and his, and your child's, Mrs. Latherup.
When I came home, he didn't even look up. He just kept staring at his hands.
I decided maybe I'd let him talk first, so I sat in a chair near the window.
Wasn't much to see with the buildings all close in, but the air smelled good.
I waited until I almost wanted to scream, and for no reason he got up and went into the kitchen and washed his hands.
Then he came back. A way out, I gotta figure a way out.
Listen honey, listen, everything's going to work out fine.
No, I'll figure it out. It's a man's job to figure it out. I don't need any help. It's a man's job to figure it out.
Hank, Hank, I was wondering, wondering if maybe we don't need some other help.
What kind of help? I mean like...
What kind? What kind? What kind?
Stop, stop talking like that. Like what? Like I'm addled? Like that?
No. Yes. Hank, there are places that help when it gets too tough to figure things out.
No help. I don't need any help. Well, it wouldn't hurt.
It's dirty. Hank, please try to understand, Hank. I'm...
A dirty science. It isn't, it isn't.
In a magazine. I was reading in a magazine, and it's a dirty, filthy science. It's not even a science.
Well, they lied. It is a science.
No? Well, what do you know? What do you know about anything? You can't even keep a house.
What's wrong with it, Hank? What would you like me to do? Just tell me.
It's dirty. Like everything else is dirty.
I'll clean it every day, and I'll wash it up.
Nothing will get it clean. Never clean again.
Oh, Hank, don't talk like that. You scare me, Hank. Please don't talk like that.
We're both dirty. We were all born dirty. We'll never get clean.
Listen to me. Listen. You have to come with me.
Why? Because you ask, why for you?
For our baby, Hank. For the baby.
Baby?
Baby!
Oh, Hank!
No, no, come on. Come on here.
Listen to me. You lied to me. You lied to me. You cheated and lied to me.
You lied to me!
It was the first thing I saw.
This silly china cubie doll on my dresser.
I picked it up, and then I hit him. Hit him. Hit him. Again. Again. Again.
Maybe he'll get over it. Maybe his sickness hadn't gone on too long.
Maybe a thousand and million maybes and ifs and prayers.
Dr. Broughton, he said it would be all right. He said the baby would be all right.
It will be. It must be.
Suspense.
In which Charlotte Lawrence and William Conrad starred in Study of a Murderer by Arthur Ross.
Next week, the story of fear in surgery. We call it The Operation.
That's next week on Suspense.
Suspense is produced and directed by Anthony Ellis.
The music was composed by Lucian Morrowick and conducted by Wilbur Hatch.
Featured in the cast were Herb Butterfield and Larry Thor.
America listens most to the CBS Radio Network.