1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,000 And now, tonight's presentation of radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense. 2 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:19,000 Tonight, the story of a mountain road and the pursuit of a runaway car. 3 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:21,000 We call it Speed Track. 4 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:27,000 So now, starring Eddie Firestone, here is tonight's suspense play, Speed Track. 5 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:42,000 Sometimes it takes you years to get to know a guy. 6 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:47,000 Sometimes on the highway patrol you learn all about a man in ten minutes. 7 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:51,000 Like the night Craig Hollister checked me out on my new beat. 8 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:54,000 Soft shoulder here. 9 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:57,000 I didn't answer. 10 00:00:57,000 --> 00:00:59,000 I was too busy sweating the grade. 11 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:01,000 The wheel was easy in my hands. 12 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:05,000 Too easy like it always is on a slick highway. 13 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:09,000 My headlights caught the rain and sleet slanting down from the pass. 14 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:12,000 It was steamy inside the patrol car. 15 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:16,000 Hollister wiped the mist off the windshield. 16 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:21,000 I thought of loosening my collar, but I didn't want to make a bad impression on Hollister. 17 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:27,000 He didn't look like a police academy officer, but he didn't talk much so I couldn't tell. 18 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:29,000 I knew he was a good patrolman. 19 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:33,000 They told me at headquarters, good patrolmen go by the book. 20 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,000 I decided I'd leave my collar buttoned. 21 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:42,000 I wiped my hands one at a time and changed my grip on the wheel. 22 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:43,000 Curve coming up. 23 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:46,000 I don't see why they need us on this road. 24 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:48,000 Driver would be nuts to go over 30. 25 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:50,000 People speed anywhere. 26 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:53,000 This turn is called Milley's hairpin. It's slick in the rain. 27 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:57,000 Found four kids here in a station wagon after the last storm. 28 00:01:57,000 --> 00:01:59,000 Over the left of them. 29 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:01,000 Who is Milley? 30 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:04,000 She went over the cliff in a model T five years ago. 31 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:05,000 She was 60 years old. 32 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:06,000 Killer? 33 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:09,000 Not a scratch. Devil's Curve coming up. 34 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:13,000 We've had three fatalities here this winter. 35 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:15,000 I don't know if I'm going to like this beat. 36 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,000 Oh, it isn't bad. 37 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:19,000 Once you get used to the blood. 38 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:22,000 You actually catch speeders on this highway? 39 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,000 So I met my wife. She was speeding here. 40 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:26,000 Pardon me. 41 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:31,000 Spatcher, this is 3-1-2-2. 42 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:33,000 Go ahead, Craig. 43 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:38,000 Joe, will you call Debbie and tell her to pick me up at headquarters? 44 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:41,000 Okay. You better get down here before she does. 45 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:44,000 A guy like her is the safest around me. 46 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:46,000 You old relic, she could break your arm. 47 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,000 Joe. 48 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:49,000 Yeah? 49 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:51,000 It's awful slick up here. 50 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:53,000 Tell her to take it easy on the gray. 51 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:55,000 Roger. Out. 52 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:00,000 Well, this was pretty good. 53 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:02,000 You wanted your wife to meet you. 54 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:04,000 You gave the dispatcher a call on the radio. 55 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:08,000 That was something they hadn't taught me at the academy. 56 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:11,000 I had a hunch it wasn't exactly standard either. 57 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:15,000 Maybe working out here in the sticks would have its points. 58 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:20,000 If you didn't end up at the bottom of a canyon some night chewing on a piston ring. 59 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:24,000 Or if your wife didn't go nuts feeding the chipmunks. 60 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:28,000 Well, I sure hope she doesn't try to break the record getting to headquarters. 61 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:29,000 Not tonight. 62 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:31,000 Did you say you caught her speeding here? 63 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:33,000 That's how I met her. 64 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:35,000 See that stretch at the bottom of the grade? 65 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:36,000 I remember it. 66 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:39,000 If you park off the road on the ridge, you can spot the speeders coming down. 67 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:42,000 I try to get them before they hit the real grade and clobber themselves. 68 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:44,000 That's where you met your wife, huh? 69 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:45,000 Yeah. 70 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:48,000 She was rowing down the hill with a car full of phonies. 71 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:51,000 Coming back from a party Schweitzer was giving on his estate. 72 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:52,000 All of them. 73 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:54,000 Tried to the eyeballs. 74 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:56,000 Including your wife? 75 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:58,000 I thought so. I wrote it up that way. 76 00:03:58,000 --> 00:03:59,000 Well, then what happened? 77 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:02,000 Well, the county judge thought otherwise. 78 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:05,000 Debbie cried and her old man said he wanted to treat her just like anybody else. 79 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,000 Even if he had just given the county a new library. 80 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:12,000 So the judge decided she'd never had a drink in her life. 81 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:15,000 Wasn't a dry eye in the courthouse. 82 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:17,000 You married her, huh? 83 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:19,000 Best thing I ever did. 84 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:21,000 I think. 85 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:23,000 You think? 86 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:25,000 You're married, aren't you? 87 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:27,000 Your wife doesn't like the mountains? 88 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:29,000 Whoever I am, she likes it. Why? 89 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:33,000 It's kind of lonely for a woman, Debbie says. 90 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:36,000 Well, here's the place I was telling you about. 91 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:37,000 Pull over. 92 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:38,000 Pull over? 93 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:39,000 Yeah. 94 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:42,000 Well, wait here and follow her down. 95 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:43,000 Why? 96 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:45,000 Well, she still drives this grade too fast. 97 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:47,000 With me back of her, she'll take it easy. 98 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:53,000 So I pulled over, of course. 99 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:56,000 Even if it was quitting time. 100 00:04:56,000 --> 00:05:01,000 He was the boss and if he wanted to baby his wife down the grade, it was okay with me. 101 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:05,000 I was tired and I could have used a cup of coffee back at headquarters. 102 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:10,000 And I was trying to get my wife moved into her cabin, but the man said pull over and wait. 103 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:13,000 So I pulled over and waited. 104 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:18,000 I even offered him a cigarette to show there were no hard feelings. 105 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:20,000 He shook his head. 106 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:25,000 And the flare of my match I could see was squinting up the road. 107 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:27,000 His face was tired. 108 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:29,000 Some of the roughness was gone. 109 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:32,000 This joker was worried. 110 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:35,000 He caught me looking and seemed kind of ashamed. 111 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:36,000 Should we be along in a minute? 112 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:38,000 Sure, sure, no hurry. 113 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:41,000 You can't follow her everywhere, you know. 114 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:43,000 In a hurry or something? 115 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:44,000 No, no, it just seems... 116 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:45,000 Look, I'm getting a transfer. 117 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:48,000 Debbie and I will be out of these mountains next week. 118 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:51,000 She's a good driver, but it's slick tonight. 119 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:52,000 So if it's okay with you, we'll just... 120 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:55,000 Sure, sure, I'm sorry. 121 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:57,000 What's the matter? 122 00:05:57,000 --> 00:05:59,000 Look at those headlights up there. 123 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:02,000 I twisted around in my seat. 124 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:05,000 Half a mile up the grade, a pair of headlights stabbed over the cliff 125 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:07,000 seemed to hang there. 126 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:10,000 Then they whipped back to the road, jerky. 127 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:13,000 Like when somebody's really floorboarding the accelerator. 128 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:17,000 Then there was a straight stretch where the light swayed like the guy was skidding. 129 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:19,000 Hollister gripped my shoulder, then the light straightened out 130 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:21,000 and got brighter and brighter and further apart. 131 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:22,000 The guy was practically flying. 132 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:23,000 Holy smoke! 133 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:24,000 That's not your wife, is it? 134 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:27,000 No, no, she's still a little wild, but she's not crazy. 135 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:30,000 Hollister was big and a little older than me. 136 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:32,000 He didn't look like he could move very fast, 137 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:35,000 but he was nothing but a blur jumping out of that car. 138 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:38,000 He was around the hood and swinging a flashlight in circles 139 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:40,000 before I could even turn on my red light. 140 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:43,000 The crazy headlights seemed to reach out at him. 141 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:47,000 Hey! 142 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:49,000 You okay, Hollister? 143 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:51,000 Yeah. 144 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:52,000 Let's take him. 145 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:54,000 Holy cow, I thought you'd had him. 146 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:57,000 Close, but no cigar. He must be plaster of the years. 147 00:06:57,000 --> 00:06:58,000 Get his tag, the light's blinking. 148 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:01,000 I just seen it was a convertible, that's all. 149 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:02,000 A convertible? 150 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:03,000 Yeah. 151 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:04,000 Aren't you going to call a dispatcher? 152 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:05,000 No. 153 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:08,000 Cappy ought to be parked near halfway house. 154 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:10,000 2429. 155 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:13,000 This is 3122. 156 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:15,000 It was a convertible, all right, 157 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:18,000 and I'd caught a flash of the driver and my heart had flipped. 158 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:20,000 It was a woman driver, young, blonde, 159 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:22,000 with a crazy grin on her face. 160 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:24,000 I felt sick. 161 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:27,000 I'd picked up the pieces after a few wrecks down in the valley. 162 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:29,000 It's bad enough when it's a man, but a young girl... 163 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:32,000 2429, this is 3122, Cappy. 164 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:34,000 We're in pursuit of a possible 502 165 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:36,000 three miles north of halfway house. 166 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:37,000 Just about ran me down. 167 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:40,000 He's weaving all over the road. Be careful. 168 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:42,000 Roger, I'll try to take him. 169 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:43,000 Curve, not here. 170 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:45,000 Take this curve tight, buddy. 171 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:46,000 What did you say? 172 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:48,000 That driver, it's a woman. 173 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:49,000 A woman? 174 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:50,000 I think so. 175 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:53,000 Okay, after this curve, you can cut loose for about 800 yards. 176 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:56,000 Try to get me close enough to spot light her license. 177 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:58,000 Hang on, partner. 178 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:00,000 You get the number? 179 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:01,000 No. 180 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:02,000 Maybe on the next stretch. 181 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:03,000 We don't need the number. 182 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:04,000 What do you mean? 183 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:05,000 I know the number. 184 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:06,000 You know it? How come? 185 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:08,000 It's Debbie's car. 186 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:09,000 You're a wife. You must be nuts. 187 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:10,000 It's Debbie. 188 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:11,000 Why would she try to run you down? 189 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:12,000 She doesn't know what she's doing. 190 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:13,000 What do you mean? 191 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:15,000 She's fried, plastered, crushed. 192 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:16,000 What do you mean? 193 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:17,000 She's a woman. 194 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:20,000 She doesn't know what she's doing. 195 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:22,000 She's going to roll that thing and that'll be all. 196 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:23,000 That'll be all. 197 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:27,000 This guy was shook. 198 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:30,000 Sliding through a turn, I caught a glimpse of his face in the light from the dash. 199 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:32,000 He was staring ahead. 200 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:36,000 And he had that thousand yard stare I'd seen in Korea before an attack. 201 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:38,000 I shivered. 202 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:41,000 Well, where do we go from here? 203 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:46,000 I could see it coming. 204 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:47,000 I could see it. 205 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:48,000 Alone in that house all day. 206 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:50,000 It's why we were going to move to the city. 207 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:51,000 But now it'll be too late. 208 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:53,000 Step it up, Art. Step it up. 209 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:54,000 If we had time to change... 210 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:56,000 I can't do any better than you. 211 00:08:56,000 --> 00:08:57,000 Stick with it and try. 212 00:08:57,000 --> 00:08:59,000 Try to get her before killer curve. 213 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:03,000 That's a heavy car she's got, Craig. 214 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:04,000 It's like it was glued to the road. 215 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:05,000 It isn't glued to the road. 216 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:06,000 It'll roll just like the rest of them. 217 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:07,000 It'll roll. 218 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:08,000 Tappy will flag her down. 219 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:09,000 How's he going to do it? 220 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:10,000 She didn't stop for us. 221 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:11,000 Maybe she didn't even see us. 222 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:14,000 You want me to try to take her again? 223 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:15,000 Not here, Art. Not here. 224 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:17,000 If she speeds up anymore, she hasn't got a prayer on killer curve. 225 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:20,000 Hang back. Don't press her. 226 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:24,000 Benny did something that wasn't in the books. 227 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:26,000 He reached over and cut our growler. 228 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:28,000 And he flicked off the red light. 229 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:30,000 I started to turn it back on and fell his hand on my wrist. 230 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:31,000 Leave it off. 231 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:32,000 Maybe we're panicking her. 232 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:36,000 Art, if she doesn't slow down now, she'll never make it. 233 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:39,000 Then she started her turn on killer's curve. 234 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:41,000 It was easy to see she wouldn't make it. 235 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:43,000 It's the roughest turn on the grade. 236 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:45,000 Washboard, no bank to it at all. 237 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:47,000 100 foot drop to the river bed below. 238 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:50,000 Hard enough to make on a dry day, but on a wet night. 239 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:52,000 Murder. 240 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:55,000 The tail lights hesitated for a second like they were making up their minds 241 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:57,000 whether to run into the hill or over the side. 242 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:00,000 The car slid sideways, rear toward the river. 243 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:01,000 She was going over backwards. 244 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:02,000 No, no. 245 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:04,000 No, baby. No, no. 246 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:06,000 I took my foot off the gas. 247 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:09,000 Out of the tail of my eye, I saw Hollister cover his face. 248 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:12,000 And then I was fighting to stay on the road myself. 249 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:15,000 Suddenly the miracle happened. 250 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:16,000 She'd made it. 251 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:19,000 Now we had to do it. 252 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:24,000 2429. 253 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:25,000 This is 3122. 254 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:27,000 We're a mile north. 255 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:28,000 Still unable to catch the 502. 256 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:29,000 She's doing 75. 257 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:32,000 Suggest your startup will try to box her, but be careful of it. 258 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:34,000 This is 2429. 259 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:35,000 Did you say her? 260 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:36,000 Yes. 261 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:38,000 Roger. 262 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:41,000 Okay. 263 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:42,000 I see her lights. 264 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:44,000 Starting up now. 265 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:45,000 Stay on her tail. 266 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:47,000 We can just stay. 267 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:48,000 Just ease her between us. 268 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:49,000 Just ease her between us. 269 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:50,000 Watch it! 270 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:51,000 It's like glass out there. 271 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:53,000 I'll try to take her again. 272 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:56,000 What's your speed now, Gray? 273 00:10:57,000 --> 00:10:58,000 73. 274 00:10:58,000 --> 00:10:59,000 We're a half a mile behind you. 275 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:00,000 She's weaving. 276 00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:03,000 I'm up to 65. 277 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:04,000 Is she slowing down? 278 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:05,000 Is she slowing down? 279 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:07,000 No. 280 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:09,000 No, she's swinging left. 281 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:11,000 It's a heavy car, Pappy. 282 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:13,000 Be careful. 283 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:15,000 Roger. 284 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:18,000 She's swinging right. 285 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:19,000 Pappy, let her by. 286 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:20,000 Let her by! 287 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:29,000 Let her by. 288 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:33,000 How are you going to make an old-time patrolman let a drunk pass him on the road? 289 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:35,000 No, Pappy tried to fight it. 290 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:37,000 He tried to ease her onto the shoulder. 291 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:40,000 The block long convertible against the patrol car. 292 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:43,000 It was like a good pro featherweight against an amateur heavy. 293 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:45,000 All skill and no punch. 294 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:48,000 For a second I thought he had her run off the road. 295 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:49,000 The convertible lurched back. 296 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:52,000 The two sets of tail lights got closer. 297 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:57,000 And then Pappy was off the road, over the shoulder, bouncing and rolling down the embankment. 298 00:11:57,000 --> 00:12:01,000 I eased my foot off the accelerator praying that it wasn't as bad as it looked. 299 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:04,000 I wanted to use the brake, but on that highway it would have been suicide. 300 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:05,000 What are you doing? 301 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:07,000 Going back for Pappy. 302 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:08,000 What about her? 303 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:10,000 Call a dispatcher. They'll stop her. 304 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:12,000 If she doesn't go off the road first, we gotta get back. 305 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:13,000 Stay on her tail. 306 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:15,000 You off your rocker, they'll stop her. 307 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:17,000 She's my wife and I don't want her killed. 308 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:19,000 Stay on her tail. 309 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:20,000 What about Pappy? 310 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:23,000 I said stay with her. I'm still running this beach. 311 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:24,000 But Pappy sneaks? 312 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:29,000 Joe, this is 3-1-2-2, a mile south of Halfway House. 313 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:32,000 That 502 just ran Pappy off the road. 314 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:35,000 Send an ambulance. We're staying on her tail. 315 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:40,000 This isn't Joe, it's Sergeant Capehart. 316 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:44,000 Setting up a roadblock outside headquarters. She won't get through it. 317 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:45,000 Go back and help Pappy. 318 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:48,000 But what kind of roadblock? 319 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:49,000 The works. 320 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:51,000 You aren't shooting at a woman. 321 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:54,000 If she tries to run this block, we'll shoot at her. 322 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:55,000 Now get back to Pappy. 323 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:57,000 Sarge, Sarge, that girl... 324 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:00,000 Don't worry about the girl. I'll take care of her. 325 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:01,000 You get back to Pappy. 326 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:03,000 It's Debbie! 327 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:07,000 Yeah? 328 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:12,000 I'm sorry, Hollister. She's just run my best man off the road. 329 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:14,000 Said she almost hit you. 330 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:16,000 Trucks and cars coming up the lower grade. 331 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:17,000 She'll have one of those. 332 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:21,000 If we don't stop her. So we'll stop her. 333 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:23,000 If we have to blast her off the road. 334 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:37,000 You are listening to Speed Trap. 335 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:47,000 Tonight's presentation in radio's outstanding theater of thrills, Suspense. 336 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:59,000 Hardly a driver is now alive who passed on a curve at 65. 337 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:04,000 Slow down driver, if you're pushing even a little bit too hard for the road conditions ahead tonight. 338 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:08,000 Play it safe behind the wheel. Your life depends on it. 339 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:12,000 The lives of others on or near the highways depend on it too. 340 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:14,000 Safety first behind the wheel. 341 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:17,000 Don't make a death trap of your automobile. 342 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:23,000 And now we bring back to our Hollywood soundstage, Eddie Firestone with Larry Thor. 343 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:26,000 Starring in tonight's production, Speed Trap. 344 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:29,000 A tale well calculated to keep you in... 345 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:33,000 Suspense. 346 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:44,000 I felt sorry for the man beside me. 347 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:46,000 I knew what was happening outside headquarters. 348 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:49,000 A couple of patrol cars rolling into position. 349 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:52,000 Spotlights pointed up the grade. 350 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:55,000 The guys drawing automatic rifles, maybe shotguns. 351 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:58,000 Flares set out further down the hill. 352 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:01,000 A reception committee for Craig Hollister's wife. 353 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:04,000 Not what he'd planned when he'd asked her to meet him at headquarters. 354 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:06,000 But there was nothing I could do. 355 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:08,000 I slowed carefully. 356 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:09,000 Keep going. 357 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:10,000 Now look, Guy. Keep going. 358 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:12,000 You heard the Sergeant, Pappy might be bleeding to death. 359 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:14,000 He's only a quarter mile from halfway house. 360 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:15,000 They can do as much for him as we can. 361 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:16,000 You stay on her tail. 362 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:17,000 I can't. The sergeant said... 363 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:20,000 I'm running this and I said stay with her, you understand? 364 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:22,000 Craig, I can't. They'll suspend me. 365 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:24,000 Don't make me pull my gun on you. 366 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:25,000 Watch this next curve. 367 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:27,000 What can we do? We can't stop them. 368 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:29,000 If she tries to run the barricade, they'll blow her apart. 369 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:31,000 If she... Hang on. 370 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:38,000 If she doesn't slow down, she won't even get to the barricade. 371 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:39,000 Turn off your lights. 372 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:41,000 Turn off my lights? 373 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:42,000 That's right. Turn off your lights. 374 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:44,000 When she doesn't see us, she slows down a little. 375 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:45,000 How am I gonna see? 376 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:47,000 Use her lights. 377 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:49,000 Her lights. 378 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:52,000 Fine. Great. 379 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:55,000 But what if there was something coming up the grade? 380 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:58,000 I wondered if Hollister had gone nuts. 381 00:15:58,000 --> 00:15:59,000 I shot a look at him. 382 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:02,000 He was peering ahead and he seemed to have got a hold of himself. 383 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:05,000 I didn't really think he'd pull a gun on me, but... 384 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:08,000 Suddenly I knew I'd go along with whatever he was trying to do. 385 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:11,000 Even if it cost me my badge. 386 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:14,000 I flicked off the lights. 387 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:15,000 It seemed to help. 388 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:18,000 The car ahead lost some of its crazy fear. 389 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:21,000 You're gaining. 390 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:22,000 Slow. 391 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:24,000 Slow and easy. 392 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:26,000 Watch it. 393 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:29,000 Okay, use this stretch here. 394 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:34,000 Gaining all right, but what good is it? 395 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:38,000 She makes this turn, she's still only got a mile to the barricade. 396 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:40,000 Is that a car coming? 397 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:42,000 Looks like a truck. 398 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:46,000 Get over. Get over! 399 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:48,000 Shoot. 400 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:53,000 Watch it, get your lights on. 401 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:57,000 Now, catch her. 402 00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:00,000 Every time I put on another mile an hour, we start to slide. 403 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:04,000 If I have to get closer, I'll never do it from here. 404 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:06,000 Closer, the man said. 405 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:08,000 I was already pushing 80. 406 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:10,000 My arms and eyes ached from the strain. 407 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:14,000 The range was still too far unless he was aiming for a lucky hit. 408 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:15,000 Or an unlucky. 409 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:19,000 You've got to catch her by that stretch in front of headquarters. 410 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:21,000 Well, that made sense. 411 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:23,000 It was the only level shoulder in the grade. 412 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:26,000 If he was going to shoot out a tire, it would have to be there. 413 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:28,000 But that was where the barricade was. 414 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:31,000 Now we just have to get her this side of it. 415 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:35,000 Hollister rolled down the window and I felt a spray of rain on my face. 416 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:37,000 Suddenly I spotted the barricade's spotlights. 417 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:38,000 She's slowing, Annie? 418 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:40,000 Putting on speed. 419 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:42,000 I can't wait any longer. 420 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:44,000 The range was just too great. 421 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:46,000 It had to be her left rear tire. 422 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:48,000 If she went off the other way, she'd be killed. 423 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:50,000 And if the ricochet got her, she'd be killed anyway. 424 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:52,000 But she was just too far away. 425 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:56,000 Suddenly, not really wanting to, I jammed down the accelerator. 426 00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:58,000 At least I could give him a last chance. 427 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:01,000 The rear end swayed and lurched. 428 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:04,000 My hands were sweaty with fear. 429 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:07,000 And that did it. 430 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:09,000 The heavy car began to turn. 431 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:12,000 Hesitated and headed for the shoulder. 432 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:16,000 It leaped when it hit the dirt, half turned and went over. 433 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:27,000 I skidded all the way through the roadblock. 434 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:30,000 It took me so long to get stopped and turn around 435 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:34,000 that the guys from the barricade beat us back to the crash. 436 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:37,000 But it was just as well because without them, 437 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:40,000 I'd never been able to keep Hollister from the ruin convertible. 438 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:42,000 Let me go! Let me go! 439 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:44,000 Hollister, wait till we get her out. 440 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:45,000 Doc will be here in a minute. 441 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:46,000 I killed her. I killed her. 442 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:48,000 We don't know yet. 443 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:50,000 There's the ambulance. 444 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:54,000 She's down there, Doc. 445 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:56,000 Hey, how's Pappy? 446 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:58,000 He broke a leg. 447 00:18:58,000 --> 00:18:59,000 Not the car that ran him off the road? 448 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:07,000 Yeah, that's it. 449 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:10,000 It seemed like an hour, but it was only a couple of minutes 450 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:13,000 before the Docs scrambled out of the ditch. 451 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:16,000 A patrolman and an ambulance driver set a litter by the ambulance. 452 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:19,000 Two other guys had Craig in their patrol car trying to calm him down. 453 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:21,000 I walked over to the ambulance. 454 00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:22,000 The girl was hurt. 455 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:25,000 Hurt bad, but she was alive. 456 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:26,000 Sergeant walked up. 457 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:28,000 Is she alive? 458 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:29,000 Yeah. 459 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:31,000 Tell Hollister. 460 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:33,000 Okay to let him see her, Sarge? 461 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:39,000 Yeah, yeah, I guess so. 462 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:43,000 I started back to the patrol car and stepped back to let a convertible 463 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:45,000 onto the shoulder. 464 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:48,000 A girl got out, a pretty girl. 465 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:52,000 And I thought of the kid by the ambulance who would never be pretty again. 466 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:54,000 Then I felt the sergeant's hand in my arm. 467 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:56,000 He was staring at her. 468 00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:58,000 This is Hollister. 469 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:00,000 Yes, Sergeant, what happened? 470 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:01,000 Where's Craig? 471 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:03,000 What's the matter with you? 472 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:07,000 We thought, he thought... 473 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:09,000 Oh, look. 474 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:11,000 That poor thing. 475 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:12,000 She's just a kid. 476 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:16,000 Hey, Pete, bring Hollister over here. 477 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:19,000 I guess you figured she was old enough to get fried at the gills 478 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:21,000 and try to make that grade on a rainy night. 479 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:23,000 Your husband saved her life. 480 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:24,000 How? 481 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:27,000 He and Art here almost broke their necks catching her. 482 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:29,000 I had a blast hitting her pieces. 483 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:30,000 Where is Craig? Is he all right? 484 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:31,000 Debbie. 485 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:32,000 Craig, darling, what is it? 486 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:34,000 It wasn't you. 487 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:35,000 Better skip it, Craig. 488 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:37,000 No, no. 489 00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:39,000 Now, you ought to know, Debbie. 490 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:42,000 I want you to know I thought the girl was you. 491 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:44,000 Me? 492 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:46,000 Well, why me? 493 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:49,000 Oh. 494 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:51,000 Oh, I see. 495 00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:55,000 And it could have been, couldn't it? 496 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:57,000 Long time ago, maybe. 497 00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:00,000 Long time ago. 498 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:10,000 Well, his arm was around her when they walked away, 499 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:15,000 but Debbie Hollister had a kind of thoughtful look in her eye. 500 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:19,000 You kind of wonder at a time like that what two people are thinking. 501 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:22,000 I turn back to the sergeant. 502 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:23,000 You okay? 503 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,000 Oh, sure. Yeah, I... 504 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:28,000 Well, say, sergeant. 505 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:30,000 Hmm? 506 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:34,000 About us not going back for Pappy, I was driving, you know. 507 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:35,000 Yeah, I know. 508 00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:36,000 Well... 509 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:37,000 Forget it. 510 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:39,000 Learn anything tonight? 511 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,000 Yeah. 512 00:21:41,000 --> 00:22:03,000 I learned something. 513 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:06,000 Suspense. 514 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:12,000 In which Eddie Firestone with Larry Thorst starred in tonight's presentation of Speed Trap. 515 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:18,000 Next week, Suspense will bring you the story of a man who knows that he will be caught for a crime that he has not yet committed. 516 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:21,000 We call it Sight Unseen. 517 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:42,000 That's next week on Suspense. 518 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:45,000 Suspense is produced and directed by Anthony Ellis. 519 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:48,000 Tonight's script was written by Mr. Hank Searles. 520 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:52,000 The music was composed by Lucian Morrowick and conducted by Wilbur Hatch. 521 00:22:52,000 --> 00:23:01,000 Featured in the cast were Lillian Byeth, Tom McKee, Ted Bliss, and Jack Prussian. 522 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:02,000 Listen while you work. 523 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:28,000 Enjoy Perry Mason every Monday through Friday in the daytime on the CBS Radio Network.