WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:08.800 Crime and Peter Chambers. 00:08.800 --> 00:24.000 Created by Henry King, transcribed and starring Dane Clark. 00:24.000 --> 00:31.000 A private investigator, duly licensed and duly sworn. 00:31.000 --> 00:34.000 Peter Chambers. 00:34.000 --> 00:38.000 You're a private eye. That's your business. 00:38.000 --> 00:43.000 Anything else? That's for laughs. 00:43.000 --> 00:47.000 There are no laughs in this one, not unless you're a ghoul. 00:47.000 --> 00:51.000 Because you're strolling in a graveyard at midnight. 00:51.000 --> 00:55.000 You're walking in a cemetery out on Long Island. 00:55.000 --> 00:58.000 That's the job of work you're being paid for. 00:58.000 --> 01:02.000 You've got a package in your left hand and a flashlight in your right. 01:02.000 --> 01:06.000 Your imagination is starting to do nip-ups when you get an interruption. 01:06.000 --> 01:08.000 What about the flashlight? 01:08.000 --> 01:10.000 Yes, sir. 01:10.000 --> 01:12.000 Now reach back and hand me that package. 01:12.000 --> 01:14.000 Well, you're supposed to give me the word. 01:14.000 --> 01:15.000 Word? 01:15.000 --> 01:18.000 Well, them's my instructions, pal. A real melodramatic bit. 01:18.000 --> 01:19.000 You're supposed to say a name. 01:19.000 --> 01:20.000 Abner Reed. 01:20.000 --> 01:23.000 Well, that's the jackpot answer. Reaching grab your prize. 01:23.000 --> 01:26.000 And notice, please, I've still got my head turned. 01:26.000 --> 01:29.000 And it better stay that way if you don't want holes in it. 01:29.000 --> 01:37.000 And you stay the way you are for the next five minutes. 01:37.000 --> 01:41.000 But you don't stay the way you are for the next five minutes for two reasons. 01:41.000 --> 01:46.000 One, five minutes in a graveyard is like, say, five years on the French Riviera. 01:46.000 --> 01:50.000 And two, you're blessed, or is it cursed, with a large lump of curiosity. 01:50.000 --> 01:58.000 So you turn, and you don't turn a moment too soon because you drop. 01:58.000 --> 02:03.000 You look to where Mr. Invisible disappeared, but you don't try to go after him because he's gone. 02:03.000 --> 02:08.000 And all the way back to town, you ponder about why the guy took potshots at you. 02:08.000 --> 02:11.000 You didn't see him. He made sure you didn't. 02:11.000 --> 02:16.000 So why the extra precaution of a spray of bullets? 02:16.000 --> 02:20.000 Well, he missed you, so you shrug it off, and pretty soon you're in town. 02:20.000 --> 02:25.000 At the fancy Fifth Avenue mansion of Mrs. Abner Reed. 02:25.000 --> 02:28.000 Well, back so soon, Mr. Chambers. 02:28.000 --> 02:29.000 Mission accomplished, milady. 02:29.000 --> 02:33.000 Come in. Please come in, sir. 02:33.000 --> 02:35.000 Mrs. Abner Reed. 02:35.000 --> 02:37.000 Born Florence Fleetwood Lovejoy. 02:37.000 --> 02:41.000 Thrice married and rolling, you should pardon the expression, in mucho dinero. 02:41.000 --> 02:47.000 Worth maybe 25 million bucks, and reputed to be stingy about the whole thing. 02:47.000 --> 02:52.000 Here's your fee, Mr. Chambers, as per agreement. $1,000. 02:52.000 --> 02:56.000 Thank you, ma'am. And now may I know what it's all about? 02:56.000 --> 02:59.000 You know what was in that package? 02:59.000 --> 03:01.000 Goulash for ghosts. 03:01.000 --> 03:03.000 $250,000. 03:03.000 --> 03:05.000 What? 03:05.000 --> 03:08.000 A quarter of a million dollars. 03:08.000 --> 03:13.000 Look, Mrs. Reed, you have a reputation for being, well, eccentric, 03:13.000 --> 03:16.000 but business transactions in the middle of the night in a graveyard. 03:16.000 --> 03:19.000 That wasn't exactly a business transaction, Mr. Chambers. 03:19.000 --> 03:20.000 What then? 03:20.000 --> 03:22.000 It was a delivery of ransom money. 03:22.000 --> 03:26.000 What? You mean I'm mixed up in some kind of a cockeyed kidnapping? 03:26.000 --> 03:30.000 Not exactly mixed up. You were an instrument of delivery. 03:30.000 --> 03:33.000 A chore for which you've just been paid. 03:33.000 --> 03:35.000 The police know about this? 03:35.000 --> 03:36.000 Not yet. 03:36.000 --> 03:39.000 Not yet? When do you expect to inform them? 03:39.000 --> 03:41.000 Tomorrow morning. 03:41.000 --> 03:44.000 Look, what happened here? 03:44.000 --> 03:49.000 Well, last night, my husband stepped out for a newspaper. 03:49.000 --> 03:52.000 He didn't return for two hours. 03:52.000 --> 03:54.000 Naturally, I was perturbed. 03:54.000 --> 03:55.000 Naturally. 03:55.000 --> 03:58.000 I thought, well, perhaps he'd stepped into a tavern for a drink. 03:58.000 --> 04:00.000 But then I got a phone call. 04:00.000 --> 04:03.000 He'd been slugged, rendered unconscious, and kidnapped. 04:03.000 --> 04:04.000 How can you be sure? 04:04.000 --> 04:05.000 There was no doubt. 04:05.000 --> 04:08.000 It was he himself who was talking to me, with a gun pointed at his head. 04:08.000 --> 04:09.000 I see. 04:09.000 --> 04:12.000 I was told they'd called back this morning, and they did. 04:12.000 --> 04:15.000 Would you be able to recognize the voice? 04:15.000 --> 04:17.000 They're too smart for that. 04:17.000 --> 04:19.000 They put him back on the phone. 04:19.000 --> 04:24.000 The arrangements were made, and then came the question as to who would make the delivery. 04:24.000 --> 04:28.000 You're very well known, Mr. Chambers, and yours is an excellent reputation. 04:28.000 --> 04:29.000 Well, thank you. 04:29.000 --> 04:33.000 They're supposed to return him to me during this night. 04:33.000 --> 04:35.000 Quarter of a million dollars. 04:35.000 --> 04:43.000 I'm regarded as, well, a rather frugal person, but this is different. 04:43.000 --> 04:48.000 We've only been married six months, and I believe you know from the newspapers, 04:48.000 --> 04:51.000 my husband is 20 years younger than I am. 04:51.000 --> 04:54.000 Yes, Abner Reed, I read about it. 04:54.000 --> 04:57.000 And I suppose you want me to clear out of here. 04:57.000 --> 04:58.000 Frankly, I do. 04:58.000 --> 05:00.000 But you are going to the cops with this. 05:00.000 --> 05:03.000 Definitely. Tomorrow morning, whether he's returned to me or not. 05:03.000 --> 05:09.000 At least then I'll know that I've done what I could to affect his release. 05:09.000 --> 05:15.000 They warned me that I was being watched, that if I called in the police, they'd kill him. 05:15.000 --> 05:18.000 Easy, easy, does it, Mrs. Reed, easy, easy. 05:18.000 --> 05:28.000 Good night and thanks. 05:28.000 --> 05:30.000 So you go home. 05:30.000 --> 05:34.000 You feel sorry for the old gal with the young husband. 05:34.000 --> 05:41.000 You think she's nuts not to contact cops, but you can't creep into another person's soul. 05:41.000 --> 05:46.000 You go home and you have a bit of scotch and you chase it with another bit of scotch. 05:46.000 --> 05:54.000 You've had a tough evening and you're ready to wrap up this day and put it to bed when... 05:54.000 --> 05:57.000 In the middle of the night, you've got a caller. 05:57.000 --> 06:02.000 That's the life of a private eye about as much privacy as a parakeet in a kindergarten. 06:02.000 --> 06:08.000 But it can always be a client. 06:08.000 --> 06:13.000 Somebody's turned off the car to lights and it's pitch black out there. 06:13.000 --> 06:20.000 And suddenly the blackness is punctuated with blazes of light. 06:20.000 --> 06:26.000 You're hit and you don't know how bad. 06:26.000 --> 06:33.000 You get to the phone. 06:33.000 --> 06:37.000 Hello, operator. 06:37.000 --> 06:50.000 Hospital, hospital emergency. 06:50.000 --> 06:54.000 You're under sedatives for a day while they probe for the bullets. 06:54.000 --> 06:57.000 Then you're sitting up in the hospital bed rare and ago. 06:57.000 --> 07:02.000 But they tell you five days, five days before they let you out of there. 07:02.000 --> 07:06.000 And then you get a caller, amiable but worried looking. 07:06.000 --> 07:09.000 Hi, detective. I hear you're coming around real good. 07:09.000 --> 07:11.000 Hi, lieutenant. What brings you? 07:11.000 --> 07:13.000 As if you didn't know. 07:13.000 --> 07:15.000 He stares down at you. 07:15.000 --> 07:18.000 Detective Lieutenant Parker, New York City Police. 07:18.000 --> 07:21.000 Stern Square and a friend. 07:21.000 --> 07:26.000 That Abner Reed shindig. I hear you were an innocent bystander in the cemetery. 07:26.000 --> 07:27.000 Did they return the guy? 07:27.000 --> 07:29.000 Yeah. None the worse for his experience. 07:29.000 --> 07:30.000 Newspapers got it yet? 07:30.000 --> 07:33.000 No. We're trying to work it through before it gets any publicity. 07:33.000 --> 07:36.000 What kind of a guy is he, this Abner Reed? 07:36.000 --> 07:39.000 Oh, nice enough kid. He used to be a dancing instructor. 07:39.000 --> 07:41.000 That's how he met the lady with the bucks. 07:41.000 --> 07:43.000 Has she been liberal with him? 07:43.000 --> 07:45.000 Liberal as she can be, I suppose. 07:45.000 --> 07:47.000 Rich, but plenty tightwad, that one. 07:47.000 --> 07:51.000 What did he do for amusement before he got married? 07:51.000 --> 07:54.000 Ran around a lot. Nightclub stuff and things. 07:54.000 --> 07:57.000 Handsome kid. Figures for a lot of gals. 07:57.000 --> 08:00.000 Why this line of questioning? 08:00.000 --> 08:03.000 Trying to get an idea as to his background. 08:03.000 --> 08:05.000 If it was hard guys that he used to run around with, 08:05.000 --> 08:08.000 it might clue us to the brains behind this snatch. 08:08.000 --> 08:09.000 It's all been done, M'ladden. 08:09.000 --> 08:12.000 What we've come up with is a large selection of zeros. 08:12.000 --> 08:15.000 Now, let's hear your story, huh? 08:18.000 --> 08:19.000 You give it to him. 08:19.000 --> 08:23.000 The whole deal and his face furrows up as he ponders it. 08:23.000 --> 08:26.000 What makes you a target, Pete? 08:26.000 --> 08:27.000 I wish I knew. 08:27.000 --> 08:31.000 First the attempt at the cemetery, then the attack at your apartment. 08:31.000 --> 08:32.000 You sure you told me everything? 08:32.000 --> 08:34.000 Everything I know, Louie. 08:34.000 --> 08:36.000 But I'm going to know more. 08:36.000 --> 08:39.000 Somebody sets me up as a clay pigeon, 08:39.000 --> 08:42.000 and it becomes my job to find out who's taking target practice. 08:42.000 --> 08:45.000 Any objections, Lieutenant, to my sticking my nose into it? 08:45.000 --> 08:47.000 As if my objections could keep you at. 08:47.000 --> 08:48.000 Thanks, pal. 08:48.000 --> 08:50.000 Okay, then I'll beat it. Now you get your rest. 08:50.000 --> 08:52.000 But remember, when they let you out of here, 08:52.000 --> 08:54.000 we work this one together, huh? 08:54.000 --> 08:57.000 Sure enough, Lieutenant. 09:04.000 --> 09:07.000 Anger and well-being seem to run hand in hand, 09:07.000 --> 09:10.000 and as your health improves, so your anger mounts. 09:10.000 --> 09:12.000 By the time you're out of the hospital, 09:12.000 --> 09:16.000 your tent is a piano wire and fit to bust wide open. 09:16.000 --> 09:18.000 You run around and ask questions. 09:18.000 --> 09:20.000 You see Mrs. Reed several times. 09:20.000 --> 09:22.000 The husband's in the nude or recuperating, 09:22.000 --> 09:24.000 but Parker's interviewed him time and again 09:24.000 --> 09:27.000 and has squeezed every possible fact out of him. 09:27.000 --> 09:29.000 And now the husband's back in town, 09:29.000 --> 09:31.000 but you're not wasting your time there anymore. 09:31.000 --> 09:34.000 Parker's an expert, and Parker's already rung him dry. 09:34.000 --> 09:36.000 So now you're sitting in your office 09:36.000 --> 09:38.000 and thinking about your next move. 09:38.000 --> 09:41.000 And then your next move is made for you. 09:43.000 --> 09:44.000 Hello? 09:44.000 --> 09:46.000 Mr. Chambers? Peter Chambers? 09:46.000 --> 09:47.000 Yeah, this is he. 09:47.000 --> 09:49.000 My name is Sandra Mantell. 09:49.000 --> 09:54.000 I live at 1786 East 54th Street, Apartment 2, downstairs. 09:54.000 --> 09:55.000 Yes, Miss Mantell. 09:55.000 --> 09:57.000 Okay, I want to talk to you about a kidnapping. 09:57.000 --> 09:58.000 A kidnapping of Abner Reed. 09:58.000 --> 09:59.000 What? What's that? 09:59.000 --> 10:02.000 I'm involved. It was my idea, really. I dreamed it up. 10:02.000 --> 10:06.000 I was supposed to get a third, one third share. 10:06.000 --> 10:09.000 But I'm not getting it, so I want to talk. 10:09.000 --> 10:10.000 Yes, yes, Sandra. 10:10.000 --> 10:12.000 I want you to make a deal for me, Mr. Chambers. 10:12.000 --> 10:14.000 If I spill, I want to be able to cop a plea. 10:14.000 --> 10:17.000 If I turn in that state's evidence, 10:17.000 --> 10:18.000 I want a suspended sentence. 10:18.000 --> 10:19.000 Why are you calling me? 10:19.000 --> 10:21.000 Because I know you're mixed up in it. 10:21.000 --> 10:23.000 Because I want you to go to the cops 10:23.000 --> 10:26.000 and tell them I'll spill the whole deal. 10:26.000 --> 10:28.000 Nobody's going to cross me and get away. 10:28.000 --> 10:32.000 Hello? Hello? Hello? 10:38.000 --> 10:40.000 The address she gave you is near, near enough. 10:40.000 --> 10:42.000 You slam out of the office and you run all the way. 10:42.000 --> 10:45.000 And then you're there, Apartment 2. 10:45.000 --> 10:47.000 And you're in the presence of death. 10:47.000 --> 10:50.000 A blonde with blood on her face. 10:50.000 --> 10:52.000 There's another blonde standing by, 10:52.000 --> 10:54.000 and this one's very much alive. 10:57.000 --> 10:58.000 Who are you? 10:58.000 --> 11:00.000 Peter, Peter Chambers. 11:00.000 --> 11:02.000 Now, this girl was talking to me when that happened. 11:02.000 --> 11:05.000 You, you didn't do it, did you? 11:05.000 --> 11:06.000 No, no. 11:06.000 --> 11:08.000 Who are you? 11:08.000 --> 11:11.000 Betty, Betty Royal. My name's Betty Royal. 11:11.000 --> 11:13.000 I'm her roommate. 11:13.000 --> 11:15.000 I've only been her roommate for a week. 11:15.000 --> 11:16.000 Did you call the cops? 11:16.000 --> 11:19.000 Yes, yes, I phoned. 11:19.000 --> 11:21.000 A well-stacked blonde. 11:21.000 --> 11:23.000 A beautiful blonde, a live one. 11:23.000 --> 11:26.000 The dead one must have been pretty, too. 11:26.000 --> 11:28.000 You crawl around and you see the gun on the floor. 11:28.000 --> 11:30.000 You see that the receiver's back on the hook, too. 11:30.000 --> 11:34.000 But that figure's Betty Royal said she'd call the cops. 11:34.000 --> 11:36.000 Let me tell you, let me tell you what happened. 11:36.000 --> 11:39.000 Wait, wait, wait, wait. Let me ask the questions, Miss Royal. 11:39.000 --> 11:41.000 Now, that gun on the floor, is that yours? 11:41.000 --> 11:43.000 No, no, no, it's not mine. I found it. 11:43.000 --> 11:45.000 Easy, easy, easy, does it, easy. 11:45.000 --> 11:48.000 Just tell me, tell me what happened. 11:48.000 --> 11:51.000 I was coming back from rehearsal. 11:51.000 --> 11:52.000 Yeah? 11:52.000 --> 11:54.000 I'm a ballet dancer. 11:54.000 --> 11:57.000 And as I came into the hallway, I heard the shots. 11:57.000 --> 12:00.000 I hurried forward, the door opened and a man came running out. 12:00.000 --> 12:04.000 We bumped into each other and that's when the gun dropped to the floor. 12:04.000 --> 12:05.000 He struck me and ran out. 12:05.000 --> 12:07.000 What did he look like? 12:07.000 --> 12:08.000 I have no idea. 12:08.000 --> 12:12.000 I came in and I found her. 12:12.000 --> 12:14.000 Like that. 12:14.000 --> 12:15.000 She was dead. 12:15.000 --> 12:17.000 And then? 12:17.000 --> 12:20.000 I went out in the hall for the gun. 12:20.000 --> 12:22.000 I remembered about not touching things. 12:22.000 --> 12:25.000 Fingerprint, I kicked it with my foot. 12:25.000 --> 12:27.000 I kicked it along until I worked it into the apartment. 12:27.000 --> 12:29.000 Good girl. 12:29.000 --> 12:33.000 Then I picked up the dangling receiver and I called the police. 12:35.000 --> 12:37.000 She's in tears again. 12:37.000 --> 12:40.000 And you go to her and you hold her. 12:40.000 --> 12:42.000 And she's a cuddly little package. 12:42.000 --> 12:46.000 And you think about how sweet this could be under different circumstances. 12:49.000 --> 12:50.000 Cops. 12:50.000 --> 12:52.000 Lots of cops. Tons of cops. 12:52.000 --> 12:55.000 And they're in charge of Detective Lieutenant Louie Parker. 12:55.000 --> 12:56.000 Never fails, huh? 12:56.000 --> 12:58.000 When there's a corpse, there's you. 12:58.000 --> 13:00.000 It's mixed up with the other thing, Lieutenant. 13:00.000 --> 13:02.000 What other thing? 13:02.000 --> 13:04.000 You straighten them out on current events. 13:04.000 --> 13:06.000 From the phone calling your office to right now. 13:06.000 --> 13:08.000 You wearing a gun, Pete? 13:08.000 --> 13:09.000 Yeah, yeah. 13:09.000 --> 13:11.000 Good, now listen to me. For once, will you listen to me? 13:11.000 --> 13:13.000 Don't I always listen, Lieutenant? 13:13.000 --> 13:15.000 Okay. There's some kind of crazy killer loose, right? 13:15.000 --> 13:16.000 Right. 13:16.000 --> 13:18.000 And he's mixed up with that Abner Reed snatch, right? 13:18.000 --> 13:19.000 Right as rain, Lieutenant. 13:19.000 --> 13:21.000 And you're still unfinished business on his list, right? 13:21.000 --> 13:23.000 Right as a real downpour, Louie. 13:23.000 --> 13:26.000 So go home, go home and lock the door. You stay there. 13:26.000 --> 13:27.000 Now, what are you going to do in the meantime? 13:27.000 --> 13:29.000 I'm going to work at my trade. 13:29.000 --> 13:32.000 But I'll come up and see you, Pete, as soon as I get loose from all this. 13:32.000 --> 13:34.000 And then we'll knock it around some more. 13:34.000 --> 13:43.000 But don't open your door to anybody but me. 13:43.000 --> 13:45.000 So you go home. 13:45.000 --> 13:47.000 You're a good little boy and you listen to Papa. 13:47.000 --> 13:50.000 You sit around like an old lady with Lombego. 13:50.000 --> 13:52.000 But you sit. 13:52.000 --> 13:56.000 You do some home cooking and some home drinking. 13:56.000 --> 13:58.000 But you sit. 13:58.000 --> 14:00.000 Finally, at two in the morning. 14:00.000 --> 14:01.000 Who is it? 14:01.000 --> 14:03.000 Louie Parker. 14:03.000 --> 14:05.000 Oh. 14:05.000 --> 14:07.000 Bit of a cup of that cheers, Lieutenant? 14:07.000 --> 14:09.000 I can use a little cheer. 14:09.000 --> 14:11.000 Here you are. 14:11.000 --> 14:14.000 Thank you. 14:14.000 --> 14:15.000 That hits the right spot. 14:15.000 --> 14:17.000 Well, look, let's get down to cases, Lieutenant. 14:17.000 --> 14:19.000 Ah, there's my boy. Always in there pitching. 14:19.000 --> 14:20.000 Cases, Louie. 14:20.000 --> 14:23.000 Well, Petey Boy, that gun on the floor was the murder gun. 14:23.000 --> 14:24.000 Good. 14:24.000 --> 14:26.000 And we've got a gorgeous set of fingerprints off it. 14:26.000 --> 14:27.000 Only Prince honored us, as a matter of fact. 14:27.000 --> 14:28.000 Good. 14:28.000 --> 14:30.000 So, now we come to the catch. 14:30.000 --> 14:31.000 There's got to be a catch. 14:31.000 --> 14:33.000 The prints match nothing that we've got on file. 14:33.000 --> 14:35.000 Don't match anything out of Washington. 14:35.000 --> 14:36.000 Where's that leave us? 14:36.000 --> 14:39.000 Way out in left field on a rainy day, but there's no ballgame. 14:39.000 --> 14:41.000 Guess who's her boyfriend? 14:41.000 --> 14:42.000 Guess who who's boyfriend? 14:42.000 --> 14:43.000 The dead doll? 14:43.000 --> 14:45.000 That's Sandra Mantell. 14:45.000 --> 14:47.000 Oh, by the way, you know what her business was? 14:47.000 --> 14:48.000 I don't know nothing. 14:48.000 --> 14:50.000 Pooch dance, a burl, that's pretty good attitude. 14:50.000 --> 14:52.000 I'm thrilled. Now, who's the boyfriend? 14:52.000 --> 14:54.000 Nicky Darrow. 14:54.000 --> 14:55.000 What? 14:55.000 --> 14:56.000 Nicky Darrow. 14:56.000 --> 14:59.000 Oh, that was a rhetorical what, Lieutenant? 14:59.000 --> 15:02.000 It was a what of amazement, a what of astonishment, a what of shock. 15:02.000 --> 15:04.000 Okay, all right, stop picking on me. 15:04.000 --> 15:05.000 Nicky Darrow, huh? 15:05.000 --> 15:06.000 Well, don't you call that a leave? 15:06.000 --> 15:09.000 We had him in, we questioned him, we did the fingerprint bit. 15:09.000 --> 15:11.000 Total reaction negative. We had him released. 15:11.000 --> 15:12.000 What time is it? 15:12.000 --> 15:15.000 It's 2.30 in the morning. 15:15.000 --> 15:16.000 Let's get out of here. 15:16.000 --> 15:18.000 Out. Where are you going? 15:18.000 --> 15:19.000 Work. You? 15:19.000 --> 15:21.000 I'm going to sleep. 15:21.000 --> 15:22.000 Pete? 15:22.000 --> 15:23.000 Yes, Lieutenant? 15:23.000 --> 15:30.000 Be careful. 15:30.000 --> 15:33.000 Nicky Darrow, a hoodlum with big ideas. 15:33.000 --> 15:36.000 Ex-gunman, ex-con, ex-crook. 15:36.000 --> 15:38.000 Gone real respectable now. 15:38.000 --> 15:40.000 Owner of a fancy saloon. 15:40.000 --> 15:42.000 Caterer to cafe society. 15:42.000 --> 15:44.000 Big wheel with the theatrical folk. 15:44.000 --> 15:51.000 But way down deep under, deadly as a two-headed rattlesnake bent on mischief. 15:51.000 --> 15:54.000 You get to next place, which is hopping, 15:54.000 --> 15:57.000 and you jostle through the happy people to Nicky. 15:57.000 --> 16:01.000 Well, the private eyeball. Long time no see, sir. 16:01.000 --> 16:02.000 Can I talk to you, Nicky? 16:02.000 --> 16:06.000 Sure, talk it with you. Nicky's liable to get educated. 16:06.000 --> 16:09.000 He's big, he's arrogant, he's power-tired. 16:09.000 --> 16:13.000 He leads you through to the back and he sits you down. 16:13.000 --> 16:16.000 There you are, palzo. Real nice and comfortable. 16:16.000 --> 16:18.000 Have a drink, huh, in the house. Okay? 16:18.000 --> 16:19.000 Thanks, Nicky. 16:19.000 --> 16:22.000 Waiter, couple of drinks here. Scotch for the eyeball. 16:22.000 --> 16:24.000 That's his drink, Scotch. 16:24.000 --> 16:26.000 Was it tickling, your pal? 16:26.000 --> 16:29.000 That kind of tickling, you can die laughing. 16:29.000 --> 16:30.000 What are you talking about? 16:30.000 --> 16:32.000 Bullets. 16:32.000 --> 16:34.000 You're on my back, Nicky. 16:34.000 --> 16:37.000 Me? I don't even know what you're beginning to think you want to talk about. 16:37.000 --> 16:40.000 Somebody's blowing spitballs at me, Nicky. 16:40.000 --> 16:41.000 Any idea who? 16:41.000 --> 16:44.000 No, sir, I got no idea who, no how. 16:44.000 --> 16:47.000 Good enough. Now we shift the gear. 16:47.000 --> 16:51.000 Girlfriend of yours died today of unnatural causes. 16:51.000 --> 16:53.000 Yeah, so I hear. 16:53.000 --> 16:55.000 Any ideas on that, like who done it? 16:55.000 --> 16:58.000 No, but I'm going to find out, pal. This is one time I'm working on your side. 16:58.000 --> 17:00.000 Okay, now we shift the high. 17:00.000 --> 17:04.000 You're beginning to stick your dirty mitts into kidnapping, too? 17:04.000 --> 17:05.000 Talk nice to Nicky. 17:05.000 --> 17:09.000 I talk the way I want to talk. To whom I want to talk. 17:09.000 --> 17:12.000 You're a sweet-hearted guy with a lot of guts. 17:12.000 --> 17:15.000 I like a guy with a lot of guts. 17:15.000 --> 17:16.000 The answer is no. 17:16.000 --> 17:17.000 No to what? 17:17.000 --> 17:22.000 Have a little sense, pal. The Snatch Racket is out for any guy with brains. 17:22.000 --> 17:24.000 It's the easiest way to turn a buck. 17:24.000 --> 17:26.000 That's all. 17:26.000 --> 17:28.000 Bye now, Nicky. Live it up. Have fun, big shot. 17:28.000 --> 17:30.000 Hey, there's drinks coming. 17:30.000 --> 17:39.000 We'll skip it this trip. 17:39.000 --> 17:43.000 So you're back where you started, fresh out of Leeds. 17:43.000 --> 17:46.000 And it goes on like that for the next few days. 17:46.000 --> 17:49.000 Long days, lumpy ones, slow moving. 17:49.000 --> 17:54.000 And you're wearing your hardware and you're turning to look over your shoulder wherever you are. 17:54.000 --> 17:58.000 You've crawled on Betty Royal a few times and you like that. 17:58.000 --> 18:01.000 You like that very much. 18:01.000 --> 18:07.000 And now you're calling on her again for no reason at all except that you like that very much. 18:07.000 --> 18:10.000 But you find her breathless with excitement. 18:10.000 --> 18:13.000 I found something, Mr. Chambers. I think it could be important. 18:13.000 --> 18:15.000 Pete. Pete. Not Mr. Chambers. Pete, remember? 18:15.000 --> 18:19.000 Yes, Peter. A little black book. It belongs to... 18:19.000 --> 18:21.000 Well, it belonged to Sandra. 18:21.000 --> 18:25.000 She must have put it into my bag by mistake and that bag's been in my locker at rehearsal hall. 18:25.000 --> 18:26.000 Let's see it. 18:26.000 --> 18:31.000 A little black book with a lot of names and not one that means anything to you. 18:31.000 --> 18:33.000 But they may mean a lot to Parker. 18:33.000 --> 18:38.000 So you latch on to the lovely Betty Royal who's as lovely and as regal as her name. 18:38.000 --> 18:42.000 And off you go, a chattering twosome, downtown to police headquarters, 18:42.000 --> 18:44.000 downtown to Detective Lieutenant Parker. 18:44.000 --> 18:47.000 And you barge in without knocking because you think you've got right. 18:47.000 --> 18:49.000 Only you're not. 18:49.000 --> 18:56.000 Only to find that he's got company so you start backing out again. 18:56.000 --> 18:58.000 Come in. Come in, Pete. Miss Royal. 18:58.000 --> 18:59.000 Thank you kindly, Governor. 18:59.000 --> 19:01.000 Thank you. 19:01.000 --> 19:06.000 Companies, a tall young man with a bruiser's shoulders and an angel's face. 19:06.000 --> 19:09.000 Lieutenant Parker, I found a little black book. I found it in my locker. 19:09.000 --> 19:13.000 It doesn't belong to me. Mistaken bags. It's Sandra's. Sandra Matfield's. 19:13.000 --> 19:15.000 This is the little black book. 19:15.000 --> 19:19.000 Yes. Fattling is God's given right to a beautiful girl. 19:19.000 --> 19:22.000 Well, thank you, Peter. By the way, let me introduce Abner Reed. 19:22.000 --> 19:26.000 I don't think you two have ever met. Abner Reed, Peter Chambers, Miss Betty Royal. 19:26.000 --> 19:27.000 Oh, how do you do? 19:27.000 --> 19:28.000 How do you do? 19:28.000 --> 19:30.000 I don't know you. Well, Lieutenant, as we were saying... 19:30.000 --> 19:33.000 Wait a minute. Wait a minute. What did you say your name was? 19:33.000 --> 19:34.000 I just told you. 19:34.000 --> 19:35.000 I'm asking him. 19:35.000 --> 19:38.000 Come on, fella. Keep talking. 19:38.000 --> 19:40.000 What did you say your name was? 19:40.000 --> 19:41.000 My name? 19:41.000 --> 19:45.000 As the lieutenant told you, Abner Reed. Abner Reed, of course. 19:47.000 --> 19:49.000 You jump him right away. You don't wait. 19:49.000 --> 19:51.000 He's big and you want the first punch. 19:51.000 --> 19:55.000 And you get the first punch in, but he takes a standing up and lets do a few of his own. 19:55.000 --> 19:58.000 All right, stop it. Break it up. What the devil's going on here? 19:58.000 --> 20:01.000 You slip by a couple of his lefts and then he's wide open 20:01.000 --> 20:05.000 and you come up with one off the floor and he catches it clean on the button. 20:06.000 --> 20:07.000 And now he's dead. 20:07.000 --> 20:11.000 And out. And he'll stay out until someone brings him two. 20:11.000 --> 20:14.000 You're crazy, man. That's assault and battery. 20:14.000 --> 20:16.000 You're going to do time, fella. 20:16.000 --> 20:18.000 Boy, you really flipped your wig this time. 20:18.000 --> 20:19.000 Here, let me help you. 20:19.000 --> 20:20.000 Stay away from him. 20:20.000 --> 20:21.000 Now, look, Peter. 20:21.000 --> 20:23.000 You and I, Lieutenant, we've thrown a lot of questions around. 20:23.000 --> 20:25.000 There's a couple of answers coming up right now. 20:25.000 --> 20:26.000 Like what? 20:26.000 --> 20:30.000 Like why I was shot at at the graveyard and shot up in my apartment. 20:30.000 --> 20:32.000 Like why Sandra Mantell was killed. 20:32.000 --> 20:34.000 Like why she called the police. 20:34.000 --> 20:38.000 Like why Sandra Mantell was killed. Like why she called me in the first place. 20:38.000 --> 20:39.000 Like why that gun has fingerprints. 20:39.000 --> 20:41.000 Easy, easy. One at a time. 20:41.000 --> 20:42.000 Let's take the last one first. 20:42.000 --> 20:44.000 Fingerprints on a gun. 20:44.000 --> 20:47.000 A guy dropping it when he collides with a dame. 20:47.000 --> 20:49.000 Panicking, running out, leaving it there. 20:49.000 --> 20:50.000 Does that sound professional? 20:50.000 --> 20:51.000 Not especially. 20:51.000 --> 20:53.000 Well, a rule's out of pro. What is a rule in? 20:53.000 --> 20:54.000 An amateur. 20:54.000 --> 20:55.000 So? 20:55.000 --> 20:56.000 So let's do it right side up now. 20:56.000 --> 20:59.000 Now, here's a guy, Abner Reed. He married a large hunk of dough. 20:59.000 --> 21:02.000 But he can't reach too much of it because she's frugal. 21:02.000 --> 21:03.000 So? 21:03.000 --> 21:05.000 The suggestion of a friend of his, Miss Sandra Mantell, 21:05.000 --> 21:08.000 and you'll find, I'm sure, with a good deal of digging, 21:08.000 --> 21:10.000 that those two had a close sub-browser association. 21:10.000 --> 21:13.000 Well, never mind what I'll find out. Let's get this over with first. 21:13.000 --> 21:16.000 On her suggestion, they figured out a beauty. 21:16.000 --> 21:19.000 The guy kidnapped himself. 21:19.000 --> 21:23.000 Remember Mrs. Reed talked in the alleged ransom discussions to nobody but him on the phone? 21:23.000 --> 21:25.000 Yes, yes. 21:25.000 --> 21:29.000 He knew the old dame. She'd pay and play ball, which she did. 21:29.000 --> 21:32.000 But why? Why were you attacked there in the cemetery? 21:32.000 --> 21:35.000 Because Reed didn't want any remnants hanging around. 21:35.000 --> 21:37.000 But Pete, how did you tab him so quick? 21:37.000 --> 21:39.000 He never bothered to disguise his voice in the graveyard. 21:39.000 --> 21:43.000 He figured to leave me there for dead, and this was the first time I've heard it since. 21:43.000 --> 21:47.000 So he punched his bullets at you and your apartment, and that time he almost made it. 21:47.000 --> 21:51.000 And then, then when he wouldn't abide with Sandra, she decided... 21:51.000 --> 21:53.000 Everybody's a detective. 21:53.000 --> 21:55.000 Although you're 100% right, Betty Lass. 21:55.000 --> 21:58.000 She called me, knew where to call me, because she was in it from the very beginning. 21:58.000 --> 22:01.000 He caught her in the act and finished her off. 22:01.000 --> 22:06.000 And if you will kindly use the fingers of that comatose gentleman for the purpose of making fingerprint impressions, 22:06.000 --> 22:10.000 I don't have a doubt in the world what you'll find. 22:10.000 --> 22:24.000 And so, one hour later, Abner Reed is booked for murder and extortion. 22:24.000 --> 22:30.000 And you're strolling in the joyful sunshine with Betty Royal clinging to your arm tightly and proudly. 22:30.000 --> 22:40.000 And what prettier termination can there be to so unfortunate a circumstance as murder? 22:40.000 --> 22:49.000 And there you've had Crime and Peter Chambers. 22:49.000 --> 22:52.000 Dane Clark was starred as Peter Chambers. 22:52.000 --> 22:58.000 Crime and Peter Chambers transcribed was created, produced, and written by Henry Kane. 22:58.000 --> 23:01.000 Others in the cast were Bill Zuckert, heard as Lieutenant Parker, 23:01.000 --> 23:06.000 with Evelyn Barden, Patricia Wheel, and Roger DeCoeve. 23:06.000 --> 23:08.000 It was directed by Fred Way. 23:08.000 --> 23:11.000 This is Fred Collins inviting you to tune in next week, same time, same station, 23:11.000 --> 23:19.000 for Dane Clark in Crime and Peter Chambers. 23:19.000 --> 23:29.000 Visit with Fibber McGee and Molly tonight on the NBC Radio Network.