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.
Well, Barbie, you're looking very pert tonight.
Well, thank you, kind sir. I'm going to play the part of a glamour gal in the story we're testing for a Mystery House novel tonight.
You'll be a hit, baby.
Well, I don't think I'd like being a glamour girl if it means being the kind of person I'll portray in this story.
Oh, a meanie, hmm? Well, somebody has to play the bad parts.
That's what I like about my job, Mr. Glenn. I'm always a hero.
Why, Tom, you never play any of the parts in the story.
Oh, not in the stories, maybe, Mrs. Glenn, but I always feel like a hero because of the good news I bring our listeners.
For example, listen to this.
Mystery House.
Okay, places everybody. Set the scene for the night story, will you, Tom?
Time to kill.
Tonight's story opens in a swanky, nameless, exclusive little private club hidden away on the street level of a fashionable hotel building.
Andy Archibald, seer, sage, poet, philosopher and press agent,
has just taken on the role of a
sweet little racket of yours, Mike, calling this restaurant a club.
You're getting a little mixed up, Andy. I don't let the customers insult me. I insult them.
Oh, yeah. It's a club, not a restaurant. And you've made it very smart to be insulted by Michael, haven't you?
You know, Mike, maybe you and I should change jobs.
No, thanks. I'm making a good living, and you owe me a neat little bill for last month, Andy. Who's going to pay it?
Why, my new client, of course, Michael.
Client? When a cheap press agent starts talking about client.
I'm not a press agent anymore, Michael. I've risen. I am now a public relations counsel.
Yeah? Well, I'll be impressed when you pay last month's bill.
Oh, come on. Get me a club sandwich and a cup of coffee.
And your new client will pay for it, huh? Who is this new client?
Get ready to bow your head repugnantly, Michael. It's the incomparable, the lovely, the glamorous Monica Manning.
What? That?
Now, look, Andy, I've always kind of liked you. Take a tip from Uncle Mike and run. She's poison.
Oh, you wouldn't say that if you knew her, Michael. She's lovely.
That's what it says in the movie magazines. She's a phony and a heel.
Do tell. I didn't know you were a buddy of hers, Mike. Since when did you start traveling in her set?
A long time ago, sonny boy. And her set ain't much, I'll tell you that.
We jerk sodas together out of the same tap.
Then surprise, Mike. She's gonna meet me here.
What? You've got no right to bring her here.
Why not? I have a card for this club, haven't I?
When's she coming? I'm not gonna be here.
You think she wouldn't remember you, Mike?
Say, she's as democratic and friendly as anybody you'll find. Nothing high hand about her at all.
Say, it'll give you a thrill.
Well, my eye. She wouldn't come here if she knew I ran the joint. I would...
Ah, Monica.
Andie, darling, I hope I haven't kept you waiting. Will you...
Oh. Yeah. Go ahead, sit down.
Michael, what are you doing here?
What am I doing here? I'm making a living. And a fairly honest one, too.
I suppose I've got a weight on you.
Now, Michael, is that any weight?
Turn off the charm, baby. The only effect it has on me is to make me a little sick of the stomach.
I've seen some of your pictures, and you're just as lousy on the screen as off, baby.
Mike, you've no right to talk like that.
No? How about it, baby? Have I got a right to talk like that? Hmm?
Well, go ahead. Tell the man.
Mike, you haven't cultivated any manners yet, have you?
Just as much as peasants as ever.
Hmm. I bet you didn't learn much about peasants over in Europe or that county of yours, did you?
Mike, Miss Manning isn't married.
Ah, come on, Andie. Catch up with the score. I remember when it happened.
Don't have, Monica.
Really, Michael?
Oh, don't give me that lofty dame stuff, baby.
The Count said he was going to make a lady out of you.
Ha-ha. Boy, what a job he was tackling.
Mike, nobody knows about the Count.
You'll have to keep quiet about it, understand? My career...
A lot I care about your career or the Count.
I could show you something, baby.
Something that ought to mean a lot more to you than the Count or a career.
Yeah, I got a notion to do it, too.
Excuse me while I go to the phone.
Mike, no! What...
Don't get upset, Monica.
Upset? Why wouldn't I be upset? He'll make a scene.
I'll make a scene that's a Jim Dandy, baby.
I'll cut it out, Mike.
No, I'm enjoying myself, Andie. Stick around.
Maybe there'll be some laughs.
Monica, we've got to get out of here. Come on.
No, no, I can't leave, Andie.
I'm supposed to meet my husband here.
The Count? Oh, the Count?
Hmm, that ought to be fun. I'd like to see that.
Maybe I can give the Count a few tips, baby.
You wouldn't dare.
Oh, wouldn't I?
Andie, you wait here for the Count.
Bring him to the hotel dining room.
Afraid, baby?
I don't choose to allow you to humiliate me.
The hotel dining room, Andie.
Right.
I should have let her have it. I should have...
What's gotten into you, Mike?
You acted like a crazy man.
He's poison. Pure poison all the way.
Who would ever have guessed you'd know a woman like Monica Manning
well enough to talk to her that way?
You really hate her, don't you?
Well, I couldn't bother hating anybody else, Andie,
because maybe I wouldn't have enough hate left to concentrate on that thing.
What's it all about?
Nothing you'd want to use as a press agent.
That's for sure.
Well, you still want that sandwich and cup of coffee?
I'll go back to the kitchen and get it for you if you do.
No, just the coffee, I guess.
I'll drink it while I'm waiting for the Count.
Okay. I'd kind of like to see that Count myself.
Oh, Count!
Oh, we... I thought Monica was to be waiting for me.
There's been a little change in plans, Count.
Sit down.
No, no, no, no, don't get excited, Count.
There's nothing wrong.
It's just that Monica had to change the meeting place.
Here's your coffee, Andie.
Oh, now, don't tell me that this is a Count.
What? Oh, now, Mike, listen.
I had always thought royalty was supposed to be kind of glamorous.
He's just funny.
And Count, your babe stood you up.
Babe?
See here, my man.
You'll use respect in addressing me.
You want a bet?
You're just one of the boys here.
I don't suppose I ought to take time to drink this.
Monica'll be waiting for us, Count.
What time is it?
Seven o'clock, right on the north.
Then I'm supposed to take my pills.
Wait, please. Get me a drink of water. You.
You can wash them down with Andie's coffee.
You. All right.
What kind of pills are they, Count?
For a fever. Monica gave them to me.
The pollen in the air around here is simply devastating.
And Monica says these have helped her.
Well, I'd be afraid of anything that dame gave me.
Go ahead.
Well, you are very important.
Oh, never mind him, Count.
Come on, take the pills and let's get going.
Here's the coffee.
Thank you.
But where is my wife?
Shh! Not so loud, Count.
Her movie contract, remember? No husband.
Oh, stupid. Let's see.
Two beers. Yeah, we.
Yeah.
Oh, what was that?
Now let's find Monica.
It's a hurry, Count. Stick around.
I might even tell you some things about Monica way back when her name was Molly.
I'm sure I shouldn't be interested.
And I find your coffee as distasteful as your conversation.
Come, Andie. Let us.
What's wrong, Count? What's the matter?
I can't see. Everything is black. Dizzy.
Walls. No, no.
Mike!
What?
It's fainted.
Yeah.
Just a second.
Faint at my eye.
What?
When there's no breath and no heartbeat, it ain't a faint, Andie.
It's death.
Now listen, Captain Regan.
Now listen to answer to my questions, Andie.
Lock that door there.
All right.
I don't know a thing about it, Captain Regan.
You run a high class club like this, you don't look for goofbills.
Your coffee's always been pretty bad, Mike.
But I never heard of anybody dying from it before.
It wasn't the coffee. Like I said, those pills...
What pills?
The Count said he had some hay fever pills.
He took a couple and washed them down with coffee.
Then he fell over dead.
Why did he come here to take his pills?
Oh, he was here to meet a...
To meet a gal.
Ah, and he said the gal gave him the pills.
And I'll bet you'd like to know who the gal was, wouldn't you?
Mike, you can't...
You keep on it, Andie.
You think I'm gonna let that little louse cause me any more trouble?
You're nuts.
Now listen, Mike.
It was the glamorous, the lovely, the enchanting movie star, Monica Manning.
Well, well, well.
And you just got a job as a press agent, didn't you, Andie?
That's got nothing to do with it. Monica didn't...
You're pretty fond of Monica, too, from what I hear.
And she was meeting this Count here.
As for you, Mike, you made a crack about Monica Manning
not causing you any more trouble.
Well?
Well, I got nothing to do with this.
You're, uh, troubled with Monica Manning, Mike.
It interests me.
It's nobody's business. And it ain't a part of this setup.
I hate to admit it, but I think he's right.
Yeah, then...
The Count was married to Monica, but he was a bigamist.
We were trying to keep it quiet till we could get it cleared up.
He didn't have a divorce when he married Monica,
and his first wife had followed him here to make trouble.
That's what this conference was to be about.
Well, you can imagine what kind of a mess that would have stirred up for Monica.
A kind of publicity.
She probably slipped the Count that point.
I'd say the second wife would be a better bet as a killer.
Monica Manning...
Hey, hey, hey!
That shot was at me! You just missed my hand!
There's something crazy here. A room is locked.
Nobody could have gotten in here.
No, but they did. And something tells me it was no friend of mine.
Hey, there's a bullet crease in the bar here.
That's right.
The shot that hit the mirror grazed the edge of the bar.
See where the line of fire points?
Where?
To that ventilator.
There, the cold air shaft. Goes straight up into the hotel.
That's it, Sherlock.
Somebody climb down the cold air shaft and fire through that grate. At me!
Maybe. Maybe not.
But the ventilator shaft's big enough to hold a small body.
Just a minute.
Well, now, isn't this something?
What is it?
It's a gun with a timing device on it.
Fix the fire at 745.
I'll be darned.
Mike, you had plenty of opportunity to put that gun there.
I think we'll just take you and a cup of coffee down to the station.
You get in my hair, Andy. What now?
I've got something that'll get Mike out of trouble, Regan.
Oh, you found out there was no poison in the coffee, huh?
The coroner's office just called me.
Yeah, and the pills. There was nothing wrong with them either.
That lets Mike and Monica both out.
But the guy died of fright.
The laboratory says the poison in the count's stomach had been there a couple of hours before he died.
You know, a delayed action job.
The kind of poison which would take effect in from an hour and a half to two hours.
And somebody poisoned him who knew about those pills.
And maybe somebody who knew he was going to Mike's club to meet Monica.
Somebody who wanted to make it look as if Monica or Mike killed him.
But I don't get the gun in the ventilator.
I think the count had somebody plant that there.
But why?
His first wife had found out he'd married Monica.
And the count had to get rid of her.
The gun was aimed at the third bar stool.
You happened to be sitting in the fourth one when we were talking, leaning over.
The count maybe planned to maneuver Monica under the third stool and let the gun take care of her.
Oh, it sounds fishy.
Hello, who are you?
You send for me. I am Melinda Verone.
Oh, yes, countess. Won't you be seated?
Thank you.
I do not fear to find my husband the count.
Yes, I'm sorry.
But he had another wife, too.
How did you feel about that?
He did not tell me.
I come to this country because I do not hear from him.
Also, I hear stories in Europe.
And present stories.
I arrive here and find they are true.
I am here, and the count dared to take me away from the bar.
I do not know what to do.
What's the matter with her?
I'm sick.
What's the matter with her?
She's out.
Call an ambulance. We have to take her to the hospital before it's too late.
It's not too late.
A mysterious countess Verone was murdered.
A second unsuccessful murder attempt.
And the third one, is it successful or not?
Well, we'll find out in the second act of tonight's story.
And now, act two of Time to Kill.
The publicity agent, Andy Archibald, has just gone to the apartment of the beautiful Monica Manning.
And Monica seems terribly nervous.
Andy, they haven't found out about Mike.
Mike's blown the lid, baby.
He spilled the whole story about you and him.
Why, Andy, that...
It would be almost as bad as the bigamy thing.
You promised to keep me out of this. It's your job.
It's going to be too big a job, honey child.
How in the world did you ever happen to marry Mike?
We were kids, working at a soda fountain.
Oh, yeah. Mike has a daughter by the name of Molly.
I'd forgotten that your real name was Molly Manischewski.
I don't know why I ever married Mike, Andy.
I was so far above him.
The count recognized it.
He took me to Europe when little Molly was only a couple of months old.
You can see I had to skip out, can't you?
I couldn't take the baby, of course.
The count educated me. He gave me everything.
You can see it was the only logical thing for me to have done, can't you, Andy?
It gave me the opportunities I needed.
I had to do it. You can see that, Andy?
I can see you didn't give me the whole story, baby.
Now, about the murder.
Murder? What are you talking about?
With what you've done to Mike and that kid, I wouldn't put murder past you at all, Monica.
Andy, you mustn't talk like that. You're my publicity man.
Look, Captain Regan's coming up here. He's on his way now.
Well, tell him I don't know anything about it.
I'm afraid you'll have to tell him yourself, Monica.
You should have told me when you were planning homicide. Maybe I could have covered up for you.
I didn't kill the count.
If I were you, I wouldn't deny that the count was causing trouble.
Have you told Regan he was trying to blackmail me?
No.
Well, then I'll tell him.
This shakedown, pure and simple. You know that. You can swear it.
I don't know whether that's so good or not.
But why?
When they find the count was taking $100,000 from you to keep his wife from marrying that bigamy thing,
well, it wouldn't help you much on the murder rap, would it?
I don't know. But I didn't kill him.
Maybe not. But you were the person who made the date with him to meet in Mike's club.
You knew about it two hours early.
You could have given him that poison knowing it wouldn't take effect until he was at Mike's.
I didn't.
Are you sure you didn't think you could make it look as if Mike killed him out of jealousy?
I never dreamed of such a thing. Mike isn't jealous. He hates me.
And there was just one other person who could blackmail you with this bigamy thing.
The count's real wife, Helene deVeroni. And she had an accident.
Only we got her to the hospital in time to save her.
You really think I tried to kill her? That I killed the count?
Cards are stacked against you, Monica. I'm asking you to give it to me straight.
I can't help you unless you tell me what really happened.
Maybe we can make it look like self-defense.
Self-defense? With the count poisoned?
Ha! Doesn't make me laugh.
All right. So it isn't self-defense.
The point is you'll have to trust me if you want to get off from under that.
Just a minute. This phone.
Hello? Who?
No, Captain Reagan isn't here. Yes.
What?
I'll take it.
Hello?
Yes.
You say the woman took that poison herself.
But I can't believe...
Oh, it wasn't poison.
Sleeping pill.
To make it look as if she'd been poisoned too.
And she's admitted it? Wonderful!
She did. She killed the count and tried to throw suspicions away from herself by taking sleeping pills.
Quiet. Yes. Yes, I'll tell Reagan as soon as he gets here.
Thank you. Goodbye.
Goodbye. Now maybe you'll believe me.
But why would she kill the count?
Are you fool? So she could get the money.
The blackmail money I was paying.
She was his legal wife.
Yeah. And with the count out of the way, she'd get all the money you'd get out of it.
Oh, that must be Captain Reagan now.
Well, I'm ready for him.
Captain Reagan, come right here.
You act like you're glad to see me.
Hi, Andy. Hi.
She is glad to see you, Reagan, because we've broken your case for you.
Helene de Verones confessed that her poisoning was a hoax and she took sleeping pills.
It clears up the whole thing.
She had motive for killing the count.
His marriage to me, blackmail money, revenge.
It's so plain, so simple.
I see what you mean.
Oh, the phone again.
Probably for me.
Hello? What? Yes, it's here.
Thanks. Hello? Oh, hospital.
What? What? You blundering fools.
How? What? How long?
Well, I'll get there as fast as I can. Goodbye.
What now?
Helene de Verones escaped from the hospital.
Got her clothes and skipped out. Got past everybody. Come on.
We'll go to the hospital and see what we can find out about her.
You go ahead. I'm going somewhere else.
Where?
Maybe it's just on her hunch, but I think I can find her.
I'll check with you later.
Okay, but stay out of trouble.
I'll certainly try to, Regan. Same to you.
You can't keep me here, Regan.
I've told you all I know. My career...
Getting yourself out of a murder jam is more important than your career.
Paying an account of $100,000 doesn't make you look too good.
I paid him to keep my name out of a messy scandal.
Expensive people you've been running around with.
Oh. All right, Mike.
I guess I don't have to introduce you two, do I?
What's she doing here?
I'm not any happier about it than you are.
You did your best to get me mixed into this, didn't you?
What happens to you don't mean a thing to me, baby.
Just so long as it's bad.
After what you did to me and the kid, I...
That was as much your fault as mine.
Haven't I tried to help little Molly ever since I got back to America?
I can do things far if you...
She don't want your money. She thinks you're dead.
And that's dandy.
But, Mike, you're so wrong.
One of the reasons I paid off the account was to protect my name for little Molly's sake.
And they pay you for that kind of acting in the movies?
Boy, is it bad.
Stop it!
Hey, Mike.
The murder took place in your bar.
And a gun was found in the ventilator shaft.
Nobody else had access to that ventilator.
No, just as easy to get into that air shaft from the top as the bottom.
Mike, I'm asking you a straight question.
And you better give me a straight answer.
Was Celine DeVarone ever in your club with the count?
She was there, but not with the count.
I didn't know who she was.
Who was she with?
Andy.
Came in and sat in a booth talking.
I didn't pay much attention because Andy's always got some doll on the string.
I see.
Monica, what did Andy know about this blackmail business?
Well, everything, I guess.
I called him in when the count threatened me.
Andy was my go-between to see that it was handled so there wouldn't be any publicity.
Your go-between.
You mean you gave him the money?
Yes.
He handled everything.
Then why the date to meet the count in Mike's club?
Wasn't that after the money had been paid?
Yes.
I didn't know the club was Mike's.
As soon as I found out, I left.
But why see the count at all after you'd paid him?
Andy said the count insisted on it.
He wanted to talk to me, I guess.
Regan speaking.
Yeah, Brennan.
Where?
Fine.
I'll be out right away.
Goodbye.
Now what?
Looks like Aline DeVeroni's bottled up.
She was seen going into a cheap apartment house.
We have the place surrounded by police.
Come on.
Third floor.
I hope she's here.
Stay behind me, Monica.
Maybe some shooting.
Down this hall.
I wish it weren't so dark here.
Well, I'm glad it is.
Come back here, you fool.
Try to run out of here, will you?
I'll show you who to get smacked with.
Smacked, you said, Andrew?
And who has the money?
Oh, no, you...
Oh, my God.
This is it. Come on, Mike.
Yeah.
Locked, I might have known.
Andy, put down that gun.
Regan, you...
Take a look at the girl, Mike.
He got her just as we broke in.
Oh, it's covered with blood.
Yeah, she's dead.
You shoot to kill, don't you, Andy?
She was double-crossing me.
I was getting the money back for you, Monica.
But Regan had to shoot me in the hand.
Now, isn't that just, Andy?
You were getting the money back for Monica.
That's real touching.
That's true.
I discovered Helene de Veroni murdered the count
to get Monica's money for herself.
So then I...
So you decided to murder Monica yourself.
What?
Andy had it all figured out.
That gun in the ventilator shaft.
Only he forgot one thing.
Fingerprints.
What?
The gun had been let down from the hotel air shaft.
Then Andy poked around the ventilator grill
and got it adjusted to point toward the third barstool.
The only prints on the gun were Andy.
When you weren't there, Monica,
he decided to make it look like somebody was trying to get him.
He knew the gun would go off
and there was nothing he could do about it.
You think I'd let a bullet come that close to me?
I know it.
The fingerprints showed it up.
But I gave you your head
to let you trip yourself up.
It could have been Andy who gave Helene a sleeping pill.
Yeah, and the poison that killed the count.
Well, it was a cinch.
I went up to pay the count of money Monica gave me
and instead I told him she wanted to pay it in person.
I told him about a new cocktail I could make for him.
He didn't like it very well.
He thought it tasted funny.
But the gun, I still don't see why.
He had to get you to keep the $100,000
and he thought he could put the blame on me.
But your timing was bad, Andy.
You didn't expect the cops to show up
till after the gun went off.
Everything you did depended on time.
But the poison acted on the count quicker than you expected.
And Monica didn't stay for the date with the count.
I'd still have been all right if Helene hadn't crossed me up.
I'd have had plenty of time to get away.
Time?
Well, you'll have time enough from now on.
But it won't be time to kill.
Applause
Music