Mystery House.
Mystery House, that strange publishing firm owned by Dan and Barbara Glenn,
where each new novel is acted out by the Mystery House staff before it is
accepted for publication. Mystery House.
The title of the story we're trying out for Mystery House tonight, Barbie, it
intrigues me, very me not. That's not the only thing that will intrigue you. The
whole story is full of surprises. Oh, not the whole story Mrs. Glenn. What do you
mean Tom? Right about now there's always an important message for our listeners
and here it is. Listen.
Okay, places everybody. Set the scene for tonight's story, will you Tom? Very me
not. Tonight's story opens in the office of Police Lieutenant Kane. Vera Blythe is
being questioned about the mysterious death of her husband. Well I'm sorry Mrs.
Blythe, I don't like this any more than you do, but I have to have all the facts
about your husband's death. But Mr. Kane, I've told you, I don't know anything
about his death. Oh come now Mrs. Blythe, you've admitted you and your husband had
been quarreling. Of course we quarreled. Every married couple quarrels, but... But
Mrs. Blythe, you went too far didn't you? Your temper got the best of you and
when your husband walked out, when he walked out you followed him to his hotel room.
No, no I didn't. You brought a gun with you, not intending to use it, but you lost your
temper. He goaded you. No, no, no I didn't. I tell you I didn't. Mrs. Blythe look, the gun has your fingerprints all over it.
Nobody else's. It was lying on the floor next to your husband's body and you were
found rushing down the hotel stairs within three minutes of the time the
shots were heard. But I didn't do it. He telephoned me. I thought he wanted to make
up. I went there because he called me. Mrs. Blythe, the evidence is all against you.
You went to his hotel room and asked him to come back. Your pride was hurt or if
either of you were to walk out, you wanted to do the walking. So you tried
to get him back. No, I didn't even know where he was until he telephoned me. You went
to his room and he only laughed at you. He told you it was all through and because
he was so calm, you got hysterical and before you knew it you had the gun in
your hand. He was still laughing at you. So you pressed the trigger and fired at
his laughing face. You couldn't take your hand off the trigger. The gun kept right
on firing and the bullets kept hitting that laughing face. Yes, you wanted to wipe
that laugh away forever and from the looks of the corpse you just about did it.
Oh no, I couldn't have done that. I didn't touch the gullet. I hadn't even seen it for a week.
Mrs. Blythe, you're suffering from shock. We call it a form of self hypnosis.
That's why I'm trying to help you. I want to restore your real memory of what
actually happened. I...oh baby, you're right. Yeah, I have been suffering from
shock. I shouldn't let myself get hysterical. That's better. But Mr. Kane, I didn't do it.
You did? No, now not again. Now let's not go through all this again. Please, Mr. Kane.
Let me tell you what I do know. Okay, okay, go ahead. Oram hasn't had an acting job
for over a year but actually he was getting paid by Dr. Gale. Alfred Gale, the
vitamin king? Yes. Oram looks so much like Gale that Gale hired him as a double.
Why should Gale need a double? I don't know. I suppose Gale was afraid because he
had so much money. That's ridiculous. I know, I thought so too. But Oram used to
substitute for Dr. Gale at lectures. I mean when Gale was engaged to give a
lecture on health, he'd get Oram to appear for him. Your husband looks so much like
Gale the public couldn't tell the difference? Even I couldn't tell the
difference. Except that, well, Oram had his car on his leg just below the knee. Yeah, well
what about their voices? Wasn't there a difference in them? Oh yes, but Oram was
an actor. He could change his voice so that no one would ever know. Why? This
telephone call you said you got, you're sure that was your husband's voice? I'm
positive. I lived with him too long to mistake it. But I don't see what's happening. Well, if you didn't kill
your husband then somebody else did. Now I don't say I believe you Mrs. Blythe, but
it's just possible that this Dr. Gale did have a reason to be afraid. What do you
mean? Well, supposing Gale had some enemies, the killing kind. If somebody told
them that Gale had checked into this cheap hotel, they'd have seen that is a
perfect chance to do away with him. You mean maybe Gale had, wherever these men
are, tipped off that he was registered under Oram's name? I said maybe. Now look,
can you identify your husband's body, if it is his body, by that scar on his leg?
Yes, but that won't prove... No, it won't prove anything. But it may make it a
little easier to get Gale to sing. Granted he knows something about this. But...
But nothing. We're going to the morgue right now.
I doubt here. Now just because this is a morgue, don't go pulling any flopperoo on
me. Oh, this is ghastly. I don't... Now stay on your feet Mrs. Blythe. Now you want to get
to the bottom of this thing, don't you? Oh yes, but please hurry Mr. Canaan. I can't stand
this awful place much longer. Ah, here we are. Here's the body. Now just one look. Now
which leg did you say this guy was on? The right. There. What did you... What is it?
I can't see in this light. He's gone. What? Yeah, the body's gone. There's nothing here.
Just a sheet and an overcoat. What? Oh no. Come in Brady, come in. Tell me all about it.
Sit down Brady, sit down. Don't jump. Now Chief, look. Brady, if there's one thing I can't
stand, it's excuses. I've got bodies disappearing, I've got women fainting and going home to bed,
but I ain't going to have excuses. I want that body, Brady. Now where is it? Chief, I'm
trying to tell you... Don't try to tell me, Brady. Just tell me. Where is the body? Where?
Chief, it's... Don't tell me you know where it is, Brady. No, don't do that. That'd be
too much. Why, it's only four hours since it disappeared. Now you couldn't possibly have
found it in four hours. Now could you, Brady? The body ain't disappeared, Chief. I've been
trying to tell you. The body? What? Brady, look, I'm a patient man, Brady, but I'm not
going to stand for any tomfoolery about this. Now where did you find it? That's all you've
got to tell me. Where did you find it? In the morgue. What? Yeah, I've been trying to tell
you. It was in the morgue all the time. Yes. Right in the same place where it belonged.
It's there now. I'll show you. Brady, wait a minute. Calm down. Look, you don't seem to
understand. The body I'm talking about was gone. I was there myself, Brady. I saw it gone
with me own eyes. And I still got 20-20 eyesight. So help me, Chief. It's the truth. The body
was right there where you told me it should be. And with the face all smashed in by bullet
holes, too. Yeah, with the smashed face. Brady, I'm warning you. You'd better be sure of this.
If you... Oh, come on. We're going down to the morgue. And you'd better be right about
this, Brady. Now, you see? Here it is. Yes, I see, Brady. I see. But, confounded, I'm
too young a man to be having hallucinations. That body was not there when I was here with
Mrs. Blythe. Now, Chief, the guy in the office says it was there all the time. The guy in
the office said... I don't care what the guy in the office says. It was not there. Now,
then I'm sure of it. Now, let's have a look for that scar. If the scar is there... Now,
what scar? The scar on his right leg. Mrs. Blythe says her husband had a scar on his
right leg, just below the knee. You mean you think there are two guys with their faces
bashed in like that? Yeah, here it is. Here it is. Below the right knee. Yeah, it must
be Arm Blythe, all right. Well, I hope you're satisfied. Satisfied? I'm a long way from
satisfied. I want to know who pulled the hocus pocus on that disappearing body. You know,
Chief, sometimes I think you're getting old. I'm a lot older than you're going to be unless
you get... Pull that sheet back over him. The way that face is mangled gives me the creeps.
Yeah, you're also getting soft. Shut up and come on. Yeah, where you're going? To talk to
Mrs. Blythe. Go ahead, step on it, Brady. Look, you don't have to worry about red lights.
You're a cop, remember? Okay, okay, but what's the rush? I thought you said the Blythe
they went home to bed. Yeah, I know, I know, but that body switch is making me nervous.
I think maybe I was a fool. You think? Shut up, Brady, or I'll be making your face look
like that one we saw in the morgue. Still, why the rush? I don't get you. Has it ever
occurred to that thick-brained of yours that maybe Mrs. Blythe played me for a sucker?
Pull that fast shuffle in the morgue and then that faint is a pretty neat way of getting
loose from us. You mean you didn't leave nobody to watch her? Of course I left somebody to
watch her underwood and he's about as smart as you are. But now look, Chief, so far against
you I look pretty good. I got dough that says the dame didn't do it. All right, all right,
skip it and turn this corner. You have to do that, you know. The Blythe places that brownstone
front there. Well, I still gotta hunch the Blythe dame is here. Yeah, save your brains.
We're going in and see. It's the second floor. Come on, Brady, come on. Come on. It's underwood.
They got underwood. All right, go on. Find Mrs. Blythe. I'll look after underwood. Underwood.
Where did you... His pulse, he's gone. Hey, Brady. Brady, Brady. Yeah, they got Mrs. Blythe
too. She's bleeding something awful. Yeah, let me look. Yeah, it's a flesh wound in the
arm. Nice soft place to get shot in the arm. Yes, the plot thickens. Mrs. Blythe, the only
real suspect Lieutenant Kane had, has been shot by an unruly assailant. Or was she? Kane
is right in casting suspicious glances at Mrs. Blythe. There might be more to this shooting
than appears on the surface. At any rate, the second act of bury me not will prove whether
Kane's guess is right. Now, act two of bury me not. Lieutenant Kane, back at his office,
has called in the much discussed Dr. Alfred Gale in the hope of finding some new clue to
clear up the mystery surrounding the death of Dr. Oram Blythe. Now, look here, Lieutenant,
I'll be glad to answer what questions I can, but you must remember I'm a busy man. Yeah,
well, sit down if you please, Dr. Gale. The police are busy too, you know. We want to get
this over with as soon as possible. Oh, of course. Stupid of me, stupid of me. I must
be more patient. That's part of what I call my manifesto of health. Patience. Must learn
to use my own advice, huh? Well, we have to get information about the persons who've been
threatening you. Threatening me? What do you mean threatening me, Lieutenant? Now, look,
Doctor, we know you hired Oram Blythe as a double. That's true, isn't it? Yes, but...
Mrs. Blythe believes you used her husband as a decoy against somebody who wanted to kill
you. What's that? Ridiculous. Men in my position respected, loved, ridiculous. Not quite, Doctor.
You had a reason for having a double. What was it? I'm a busy man. Too busy. Appointments,
lectures, my vitamin business. Too many demands on my time. Forced to have someone to pinch
it for me. Someone who could deliver my lectures and gain the same confidence from the public
as myself. Obvious, isn't it? Someone who looked like me. Spitting image of me, huh?
That was this actor fellow Blythe. Perfect. Looked just like me. Could talk too. So, I
hired him to take over my lectures. Gave me more time. Right, Doctor. Oram Blythe gave
you more time to spend on your gambling. What's that? Now, look here. You can't...
Oh, I can't, huh, Doctor? Well, I have. You know, the police have underworld connections,
too. Underworld? My dear sir, do you realize... Suppose I talk for a while, huh? I've checked
up on you through the underworld. And what do you think I found out? See here. I am a
busy man. I can't sit around listening to false accusations. Oh, you misunderstand me, Doctor.
I'm not accusing you. But certain characters in the underworld do accuse you of welching
on a gambling debt of over $50,000. What's that? Oh, it's ridiculous. I'm a busy man.
Too busy to be bothered with... No, Doctor. Let's not waste time on the gambling debt.
The point is that it's perfectly possible that somebody who had an interest in that debt
might like to blow you to bits. Bits? What? You have me all wrong, Lieutenant. Oh, don't
bother to deny it, Doctor. The point is, did you or didn't you get a tip that somebody
was going to rub you out? And if you did, did you plant Orrin Blythe in your place so
that he was murdered instead of you? Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Yes, I don't blame you,
Doctor. It wouldn't look so good to have the newspapers tell that story. No, it might affect
the vitality of business. It's a trumped-up story if I ever heard one. That actor fellow
was always having trouble with his wife. Told me so himself. Obvious his wife did it. Murdered
him in... murdered him in cold blood. Isn't that the expression? You're a detective too,
huh? Well, then how do you explain the fact that Mrs. Blythe was shot too? Obvious. Trick.
She deduced you were suspicious of her. Shot the policeman, then shot herself. Made it
look like she'd been attacked. Found it easy to confuse you. As simple as that, is it?
Yes, simple. Uh-huh. Well, we'll see, Doctor. In the meantime, I'm going to give you a little
protection against your gambling friends. Protection, huh? For me? That's right. Sergeant
Brady is going to go with you, and he's going to stay with you, just in case. I assure you,
Lieutenant, that it's absolutely unnecessary. Absolutely. Oh, just a little service from
your police department. I protest. It's an imposition. On who? On me, of course. You
don't seem to understand, Lieutenant. I'm a busy man. Too busy to be worrying about
policemen. You don't have to worry, Doctor. That's what Brady's paid to do. In the meantime,
Mrs. Blythe and I have some unfinished business with the corpse. Corpse? What do you mean?
It'll be all out, Doctor. You'll find Sergeant Brady just outside the door. Now look here.
Good day, Doctor.
That's right, Doc. I'm coming in with you. Imposition. I don't need protection in my
own home. You never know, Doc. With the friends you've got. Might as well do the thing great.
Make yourself at home, Brady. Have a cup of coffee? I could stand some java. Hey, where
you going? Oh, great Scott, Sergeant. You seem nervous. I said where you going? Oh,
just to get the coffee, Sergeant. Well, all right. But just remember, where you go, I
go. Exactly what I was thinking. Ridiculous, isn't it? What's ridiculous? You going every
place I go. I got my orders. I'm sticking to them. Yeah, yeah, of course, of course.
You're here to protect me, huh? That's right. Exactly. Strikes me, Brady. We might make
a bargain, huh? What are you talking about? Simple. You want to do your job, I want to
do mine, huh? Yeah, only right now you are my job. Yeah, so it is. It occurred to me,
though, we might make our jobs easier for both of us. Now what do you mean? Simple. I can't
do my job with you gazing constantly over my shoulder, and I fear following me every step
is going to prove irksome to you. Maybe so, but that's the way it is. Suppose you were
to... Listen, Doc, I know what you're going to say. Only it's no deal, see? No matter how
busy you are, I'm sticking with you. If your friends take another crack at killing you,
I'll be ready for them. And then... Hey, who turned out them lights?
Oh, I wish you wouldn't make me do this again. This is the most horrible place. Well,
I'll really, Mrs. Bly, this time it'll only take a minute, but I want you to see that scar,
just to be sure the body is your husband's. Isn't this the place? Yeah, it should be right
here. Let's take it. Now what is it? Oh, no, not again. They can't do this to me. What
is it, Mr. King? What? No, you look. Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me I can't see anymore.
What? It ain't true, is it? There's nobody there. Tell me. Gone. It is gone. Come on,
we're going to... But Mr. King, are you sure? Couldn't the body have been moved? Maybe
this isn't the right place. Oh, no. I made sure that when we came in here, they swore up
and down it was there right where it belonged. Now there isn't even an overcoat under the
sheet. Oh, no. No, no, no, you don't. Now you can't paint on me again, Mrs. Bly. Come
on, we're getting out of here. I don't understand. Neither do I, but this time I know you didn't
do it. Now all I get to make sure of is that Brady was watching Dr. Gale. Brady, Brady,
for the love of Pete, what's happened to you anyway? Brady, come on. Come on, wake up.
Wake up. Come on, guy. Here, here, start on time goes not, Mrs. Bly. Hey, what the...
Oh, hello, gee. Oh, my head. What a wallop. You got an aspirin? Oh, thank goodness he
isn't badly hurt. Hey, what happened? What happened, he says. Brady, I left you in charge
here, you remember? You're supposed to tell me what happened. I ate in the mood for jokes,
Chief. All I know is I get conked as soon as the lights go out. The lights? They're on
now. Hey, look, I'm sitting here with that stuff-shirt Dr. Gale and he's trying to talk
me out of dog in his heels when all of a sudden the lights go out and wham-o. Somebody takes
a cut at me from behind. I should have given you a bodyguard, I guess. Where's Dr. Gale?
In my left pocket. Are you being funny? Oh, let's find him. Sure, where? Where? We'll
have to search the house. He may be a stiff by this time. Oh, please, no more dead bodies.
Come on, where's the stairway? Maybe he's upstairs. Yeah, right through this archway, you're here.
Okay, let's... Hey, Dr. Gale. Yeah, they got him too. No, he ain't dead. You can feel
his breath. Who shot him? He wasn't shot, Mrs. Blatt. He was hit on the head with a blackjack
and then choked. The murderer must have been in a hurry. He didn't choke him long enough.
Yeah, but look at those fingernail marks on his neck. There's still blood coming from
him. Yeah, well, let's pick him up, Brady, and put him on a bed somewhere. Okay, there's
a big sofa in the parlor. Yeah, here. Here, I got him. All right. Easy now, Brady. You've
got his legs all tangled up. Oh, no, no, no, he can't be. What's wrong with her? Here,
help me put him down. Oh, I should have known. Mrs. Blatt, now what's the matter? I should
have left you at home. Look at his leg. Look. What's the matter with his leg? Can't you see?
You pull the trouser leg up. What? Brady, look, that scar. It's Oram. It's my husband.
Hey, hey, he's moving his eyelids. Now calm down, Mrs. Blatt. Maybe Dr. Gale had a scar
too. Oh, not just like that. It couldn't be just like that. Look out, Chief, he's coming
too fast. Get away from me, coppers. I'm getting out of here and I won't hesitate to shoot.
Oh, no, you don't. Give me that gun, Gale. Give it to me. What do you think you're doing?
Yeah, I knew this guy was a rat. Oram, Oram, what's the matter with you? Greetings,
sir. So nice to see you again. Oh, sure. You aren't Gale after all, huh? If you're not
sure, how can you expect me to be? Oram, I knew you'd get into trouble, but this is...
Really, Piro, your tears never were convincing. You've always been a horrible actress. Now,
you leave your domestic complaints out of this, Gale. I mean, Blatt, you've got some explaining
to do. You mean the police department is stymied? You mean you need me to explain? For two sins,
I... Brady, let him talk. Hey, well, that guy must have slugged me himself. He turned out
to be a good guy. What a life... Brilliant, Brady, brilliant. An astounding deduction.
Go ahead, Blatt, talk. Hey, now I get it. You didn't find the body at the morgue, did
you, Chee? No, that's it. Blatt, you figured you could fool us with a body as long as your
wife wasn't called to identify it. But when I told you I was going to take her to the morgue,
you knew you had to get rid of that body. So you knocked out Brady. Then you got to the
morgue ahead of me and back here and... Of course he did. Look at his fingernails. Blood.
He grabs a hold of his own throat to make it look like he's been choked. Then he beans
himself on that marble stairway so he's out as cold as I was. Wanted to pin it on your
wife because you hated her, huh? Of course I hated her. Oh, I don't understand. Oram,
what have you done? He was pretty cute. He wanted to trade places with Gale and get all
of his money. All he had to do was kill Gale and make it look like he himself was killed.
So he called you and asked you to come to his hotel. In the meantime, he'd arrange to
have Gale get there just ahead of you. He took your gun, Mrs. Blatt, to kill Gale and left
it there on the floor. He had everything arranged so that you'd be found at the scene of the murder.
Well, I knew he hated me, but this... Don't waste your tears on him, Mrs. Blatt. You're
lucky to get rid of him. You know all the answers, don't you? But there's one little
item I'm going to have the pleasure of telling you. The extra body. That was almost a masterpiece.
Well? I was fortunate in learning you discovered the presence of the scar on my own leg. I knew
if you saw Gale's body, you wouldn't find the scar, so... This better be good. So I
telephoned a mission house and said I was giving a charade for which I needed a man
with a scar just below his right knee. Of course, I used Gale's name and offered to pay him handsomely.
When he arrived, I had no trouble destroying his face in the same way you found Gale's. Bullet
holes are excellent for quick makeup. But the scar wasn't the same as yours. No, it would
satisfy everybody except Vera. That's why you got to see the scar and she didn't. She
didn't, yeah. Thanks to you killing a good cop and winging her. Of course. I couldn't
let her see either body. Two bodies and you thought there was only one. Two bodies? Well,
I'll make you a little bet, chum. There's going to be another one. Yours. And this time
there'll be plenty of witnesses.