Mr.. Hardie.
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.
Hey, Barbie, I like tonight's story.
These mystery writers certainly get around, don't they?
What do you mean, Dan?
Well, you know, one week we act out a manuscript about a circus sideshow and a Western rodeo
story and then something up in the Northwoods.
And tonight, a story that takes place in a busy factory.
Now, that's variety for you.
It certainly is, Mr. Glenn, why there's even variety in the commercial announcements.
I bet you never heard one exactly like this before.
Listen.
Okay, places everybody.
Set the scene for tonight's story.
A case of homicide.
Tonight's story opens in the office of Walter Chalmers, busy president of the Chalmers Manufacturing
Company.
It's 915 and Mr. Chalmers comes bustling in ready for the day's work.
Good morning, Miss Marsh.
Well, what the devil's that packing case doing in the middle of my private office?
I don't know, Mr. Chalmers.
Don't know?
I pay you to-
You pay me to be your private secretary, Mr. Chalmers, and that doesn't include knowing
what packing cases are doing in the middle of your office.
Well, what the devil is it doing here?
Who let them in with a thing like that?
Don't people around here know that a thing like that goes to the receiving room?
I don't know, Mr. Chalmers.
What is it, Raya?
Never mind, get it out of here.
It was here when I came in this morning.
Well, didn't you hear me?
Get it out!
I, uh, doubt that I could list it, Mr. Chalmers.
You- Oh, hang it, I'll get it out myself.
See, this fool thing's heavy.
Yes, I know.
If I find out who's responsible for this, I'll- I'll make-
I-I-I-I-I-It's addressed to you, and maybe that's why it was left here.
Hm.
This is room 404.
You think I don't know my own office number?
Well?
Well, what, Mr. Chalmers?
Call somebody and have the fool thing taken out of here, right away.
You mean, you're not going to open it?
No, I'm not going to- Why?
Why should I open it?
Well, if anyone sent me anything that large and that heavy, I'd want to see what it was.
You think maybe it's a present for me?
I haven't the faintest idea what it is.
Is there a hammer around here?
What?
A hammer, a hammer.
Oh.
We run a factory, don't we?
There ought to be a simple tool like a hammer somewhere around this place.
Oh, there's one in the cabinet in the reception room.
I'll go get it for you.
Hm.
Of all the food packages.
Hm.
Fine thing when a man can't come into his office without stumbling over...
Well, did you get the hammer?
Yes, Mr. Talmers, here you are.
If you'd like to have the janitor help you, I'll...
I'm perfectly capable of knocking the lid off a packing case without help from a janitor.
There.
Why, it seems to be all wrapped up in papers.
I wonder what the devil it could be.
Well, we'll see.
Ah!
Miss March.
Why, this...
It's a human body.
Yes.
Not only is it a human body, but a very special body.
Oh, what do you mean?
You mean you don't know who it is?
No.
Do you?
It's Jeffrey Warren.
The head of the Warren Manufacturing Company?
Yes.
The head of the Warren Manufacturing Company.
Our bitterest rivals.
Why, I've feud with Jeff Warren for ten years.
The newspapers have sped our fight all over the...
Great Scott, Miss March.
Hm.
He's been murdered, hasn't he?
I...
I don't know.
Well, those bullet holes in his stomach don't look like he died of old age.
It's a frame-up.
Somebody who knows the Amity Boutteas...
Ah, that doesn't eliminate many people.
Somebody else who hated Warren killed him.
And I've been picked as the goat.
Say, there's a note in with him.
A note addressed to you.
Here, let me see it.
You've no right to...
Mr. Chalmers, I'm not your secretary at the moment.
I think it's much better if I see the note before you do.
I...
Well, maybe you're right.
Dear Chalmers, this is all for you.
Okay, Miss March, sit down.
There's a hat rack in the outer office, Detective Craig.
One of them smart efficient days, huh?
I have a deep respect for the law, Mr. Craig.
But if there's one part of it I don't like, it's the gum-chewing,
head-on-his-head type of detective one sees in the movies.
I'm not a movie cop, sister.
Then I'd suggest that you refrain from acting like one.
Say, listen, you...
Okay, sister, skip it.
Your trick almost worked.
What trick?
Trying to put me on the defense.
I've checked your record, sister.
Well?
You worked for Jeff Warren before you come here.
That isn't much of a secret.
If you're going to come up with revelations like that...
Can you quit working for Warren or come here?
Why?
A matter of economics.
Sixty dollars a week is fifteen better than forty-five.
Yeah, forty-five...
Sixty, yeah.
But you're sure you'll quit Warren, huh?
What do you mean?
I mean, you're sure you wasn't still drunk though from Warren
for tipping him off what was going on in Chalmers' place?
That's been done before.
How dare you even suggest such a thing?
I'm no spy.
I hadn't even spoken to Jeffrey Warren.
Oh, so you wasn't speaking to him, huh?
Had a fight with him, did you?
No, I didn't have any fight with him.
It was just...
Well, he seemed to think it was unreasonable and unfair for me to leave.
I didn't think so.
If anyone was mad, it was Mr. Warren.
Oh, he threatened you, huh?
Oh, you're impossible.
No, he didn't threaten me.
You kind of got yourself tripped up, baby.
Why?
You told Chalmers you didn't know who was in that packing case.
Well, didn't you?
I...
Well, yes.
I was afraid that if Mr. Chalmers knew I'd ever work for the Warren organization,
he'd fire me.
You mean you get on here without Chalmers knowing you were his enemy's secretary?
Yes, of course. That's what I mean.
Why, Mrs. Warren, will you...
Hello, Rosalie.
Just been viewing the remains.
Just a minute. I don't know who this...
This is Mrs. Warren.
Betty, this is Detective Craig.
How nice.
Any clues, Detective?
Listen, Mrs. Warren,
you act awful cool for a woman whose husband's just been murdered.
Do I?
You tell him, Rosalie.
Mrs. Warren and her husband hadn't lived together for some time, Mr. Craig.
Betty wanted a divorce, and Mr. Warren wouldn't give it to her.
Is that so? Hmm.
You know anything about packing cases, Mrs. Warren?
What are you driving at?
That you got a first-class motive for killing the guy.
You're quite mistaken, Officer.
He provided for me very handsomely.
I had no complaints on that score.
But you wanted a divorce.
What of it?
Well, the way things turned out, you get the same results as a divorce,
without the publicity and with more money.
I wouldn't work on that theory if I were you, Mr. Craig.
No? No.
Because you'll find I had nothing to do with it.
You got any suggestions?
A few.
Mr. Chalmers, for one.
Oh, sure, sure, sure.
He'd be up to murder a guy and then ship the body to himself at his office, wouldn't he?
Chalmers had more motive to murder Jeff than any other person alive.
But, if you'd like another suspect, I can help you out there, too.
Yeah? How?
Among my late husband's friends, you'll find one who was working for both him and Chalmers.
You mean this March dame?
Oh, no, no. I don't mean Rosalene.
Her opinion of Jeffrey's no higher than mine.
I mean the night watchman at the extent.
Whoever got that packing case into Chalmers' office had to get it past him.
You mean old Duncan?
But pity when he's the most harmless old thing in the world.
As harmless as a boa constrictor.
If you think he's so harmless, just ask him a few questions.
That ain't a bad idea, Mrs. Warren.
The Night Watchman
Yeah, I was mighty shocked when I heard about him, Mr. Craig.
Say, I was mighty shocked.
Hey, uh, Mrs. Warren. She said you were a friend of her husband.
Yeah, I always liked Jeff Warren. Mighty fine. Say, mighty fine.
Good thing I didn't know that, Duncan.
Oh, never interfered with my work, none did it.
I said never interfered with my work.
I'm not so sure of that. She said you were working for Warren, too, while you were taking money from me.
Yeah, well, work days for him, nights for you. Didn't interfere, though, none.
What kind of work were you doing, days for Warren?
Well, I don't know what I ought to say.
If not with her here, say, I don't know what I ought to.
You better.
Well, of course, you put it that way. I, uh, I was watching her.
You were what?
Watching Mrs. Warren.
Old Jeff had an idea that she was plotting to kill him to get his money.
I say, she's plotting to kill him.
That's a lie. You, you were tipping him off to everything Chalmers did.
Mm-hmm. And kind of hard working as a night watchman.
Didn't know myself what Chalmers was doing. I say, I didn't know myself.
Look here. You're on the spot, fella.
That pecking case had to come by you to get up here.
Unless it come in the daytime.
Yeah, I can see anybody lugging it in here in the daytime.
You better start talking, mister.
Okay, what about?
I say, I mean, well, I'll tell you anything you can.
I aim to oblige. I say, I always aim to oblige.
You can oblige me by telling me just one thing.
Who brought that pecking case in here?
Couldn't tell you.
I suppose you didn't see a thing, huh?
Nothing.
You're lying. Or else you brought it in yourself.
Oh, now, that's kind of strong accusation, mister.
I ain't lying. I didn't see anybody bring it in.
Now, listen, it had to get past you.
And if you were on the job, you had to see it.
Now, you take your choice.
Either you tell who you saw lug that thing in here,
or admit that you did it yourself.
Well, I don't like the choice you're giving me, mister.
Looks to me like there's been some trickery.
Some skull-duggery. I say, skull-duggery.
There certainly has been some skull-duggery.
Duggery, yeah.
Put that man to rest, Craig.
Yeah, that wouldn't be too fast about that if I knew, mister Chalmers.
You might live to regret it.
Why, you old go...
Just a minute.
Let's take a look at that pecking case again.
Listen, I said there wasn't anybody to go in your office.
I get it locked, and it's gonna stay that way.
But I have an idea.
If that case is from our stock room, we can trace it.
If Duncan stole it...
Say, maybe you got something there at that.
Come on.
I won't forget about you trying to put me on the spot, Mrs. Warren.
I didn't...
Yes, you did too.
With what I know about you, I can make you trouble.
See, I can make you trouble.
Listen, if you're in trouble, it's your own fault.
You know the old goat spying on me.
Where's the key to my office, Craig?
If it isn't asking too much, I'll unlock the door.
I'll unlock it, mister Chalmers.
Now we'll examine the...
What?
What is another pecking case?
It...
It wasn't here this morning.
What the...
Hey, listen.
What kind of a tank is this anyway?
If you think you're being funny, Chalmers...
There's nothing funny about it.
And don't be a fool.
You think I could lug a thing like this and hear it past all the people in the outer office?
Well, this one ain't addressed to you, Chalmers.
But...
No, no it isn't.
It's Rosalie March, room 404, Chalmers building.
Listen, this isn't funny...
Grab the hammer.
Oh yeah.
Here.
Stand back.
Yes, sir.
I don't want to look.
They couldn't do anything, Rosalie.
They merely just trying to show you can have smart ass, that's all.
Oh yeah?
Great Scott!
Another body!
Yeah.
Young guy.
You know him, Miss March?
I...
Yes.
Yes, I know him.
Well, do something, you fool!
Can't you see she's fainted?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh, talk about lousy greats.
Now I gotta wait till she comes to before I can find who the guy is.
No, you don't, Craig.
I can tell you it.
Johnny Bellman.
Johnny Bellman, huh?
Who's he?
Oh, nobody in particular.
Except the man Rosalie March was engaged to marry.
Who killed Johnny Bellman?
And Jeff Lee Warren?
And how did the bodies complete with their packing cases get into Walter Chalmers' office?
We'll find out in the second act of the case of homicide.
Meanwhile, here's a brief message from our sponsor.
...
And now, act two of the case of homicide.
The scene is Walter Chalmers' office in the Chalmers' manufacturing company.
Dan Quague has taken it over his headquarters for the murder investigations,
and he's talking to Mrs. Warren as old Duncan sits nearby.
Now come down off your high horse, Mrs. Warren.
I know your kind.
You can't talk to me like that.
Like a common old...
I don't need to explain what you are, Mrs. Warren.
I've been talking to Duncan, and he told me you were sweet on his journey from us.
You're a charming old fellow, Duncan.
Yeah, well, names won't hurt me, Miss Warren.
I was doing a job for your husband, and I know what I saw.
I say, I know what I saw.
How do you know who?
You were seeing this Johnny Bellman regular.
It was on account of him that you wanted Jeff to divorce you.
I...
Listen here, you're...
Quit that grand dame stuff, sister.
You were stepping out on old Jeffrey and...
That's a lie.
Jeff and I weren't living together.
We had nothing in common.
I asked him for a divorce.
Which he wouldn't give you.
All right, which he wouldn't give me.
But that didn't make us any more compatible.
He didn't need to hire a filthy snooper to know I was seeing Johnny Bellman.
I told him that Johnny and I were in love with each other.
He knew all about it.
He knew nothing deceitful about it.
That makes a good story.
With Jeffrey out of the way.
It's true. There's no story to it.
Do you think I'd kill the man I loved?
If he'd busted you up with your husband,
and you thought you was gonna marry him,
and then he got engaged to another girl?
Yeah.
Yeah, I think you would.
But his engagement to Rosalie Marsh didn't mean a thing.
From the way she keeled over when she saw his body,
I think different, sister.
Heh.
Funny.
Nice kid like her being sweet on a heel like that.
Don't you call Johnny a heel!
He's a fine person.
Hey, why don't you knock before you...
Oh.
Hello, Miss Marsh.
They said you wanted me.
I've been hearing an interesting story, Miss Marsh.
Mrs. Warren here says Johnny Bellman was in love with her and not with you.
It doesn't make much difference what anybody says.
Now that he's dead, does it?
Ah, good point you got there, Miss Marsh.
It's a good point.
What's a good point?
What Mrs. Warren says her husband said.
Nobody can prove it one way or the other now.
Neither way.
I guess that's right.
But there's something else nobody can prove.
Yeah?
Nobody can prove I came in here with two packing cases on my back.
Think that one over, genius.
["The
Night of the Dead"]
Hey, Duncan.
What are you doing here?
I just thought you might like to talk to me, Mrs. Warren.
I've nothing to say to you.
Mm-hmm.
Suppose, though, that I was to get a flash of memory.
Hey.
What are you talking about?
Suppose I was to remember that I saw you taking a big box into Mr. Chalmers office
saying you had a present for Rosalie Marsh and wanted to surprise her.
I didn't.
You wouldn't tell her.
Look, Mrs. Warren, I've had tough luck all my life.
Here I am getting along in years and no nest egg.
Say no nest egg.
I got a right to something, didn't I?
Get out of here before I throw you out.
You and me, we got to get along with each other the way I look at it.
I'll show you how we're going to get along.
Put down that gun now, Mrs. Warren.
You could have an accident with it.
You just said I could have an accident.
And I'm going to have one if you don't clear out of here.
No, no.
You couldn't get away with it.
Oh, yes, I could.
I could say that you came here threatening me.
Trying to blackmail me.
And when I refused to stand for it, you got mad.
Yes, you was too smart for Jeffrey Warren, always.
I can see that now.
You outsmarted him at every turn, didn't you?
Get out of here.
I'd put down that gun if I knew, Mrs. Warren.
I didn't come here to be bluffed.
See, I didn't come here to be bluffed.
Give it here.
No.
Now you got to wait on me.
I'm warning you, you won't.
Stand back or I'll shoot.
Yeah.
Ow.
Are you hurt?
No.
No, I'm sound as a dollar.
But you're hurt.
I say you're hurt.
After you're firing that gun, there's going to be quite a stir.
And I got you right where I want you.
You deliberately tricked me into getting that revolver.
If I was you, I'd make a deal fast, Mrs. Warren,
before the folks who heard that shot get here.
You.
You killed Jeff and Johnny Bellman.
You did it.
You killed them in order to blackmail me.
You had to kill Jeff so I'd have money.
And then you had to kill Johnny so there'd
be nobody to protect me.
I didn't have to kill anybody.
But once in my life, I just kind of took advantage of things
as they happened.
I say I took advantage.
I hope you'll get this over in a hurry, Craig.
The chips are down this time, Mrs. Warren.
This is going to be it.
They're all going to be here and nobody's going
to leave till I get the killers.
Did it ever occur to you that it might be two killers?
Yeah.
Yeah, it occurred to me and I threw it away.
These deals are too much alike.
Well, for heaven's sake, hurry up and get it finished.
There's three days correspondence piled up and-
Look, Mr. Chalmers, I'm doing the best I can.
Ain't very good.
What's that, Duncan?
I say your best ain't very good.
No?
No.
Maybe you'll think differently before I throw, Duncan.
I'm going at this thing scientific.
I'll bet that's just wonderful.
If I want any comments, Miss March, I'll ask for them.
Oh, I forgot, the majesty of the law.
Pardon me.
Look, you, I-
Oh, forget it, forget it.
All right.
I fixed myself up a list of motives and theories,
always disregarding the packing cases.
Uh, they're a little on the important side, though, aren't they?
I said, oh, never mind.
We've been assuming that Mrs. Warren had a motive
for killing Johnny Bellman because he got himself engaged
to you and she was in love with him.
There was never any doubt about her having a motive
to kill Jeffrey Warren.
I can't believe Mrs. Warren could get those packing cases
into my office.
It seems-
I said we're disregarding those for a while.
The little packing cases that weren't there.
Now listen, you, that theory about March stands up pretty good.
But we're overlooking something.
Yes, what?
How do we know which came first in Bellman's life,
Mrs. Warren or Rosalie March?
I- I don't get it.
Suppose Bellman was engaged to Rosalie
before he fell for Mrs. Warren.
That had kind of changed the motors around a little, wouldn't it?
Now what do you mean by that?
I mean that you might have been sorry at Bellman
because he was giving you the go-buy after promising to marry you.
But that's not true.
It could be. How about it, Mrs. Warren?
Johnny didn't care about Rosalie March, really.
He was using her to keep Jeffrey from having any grounds
for divorce from me.
Johnny could always say he was engaged to Rosalie.
That's a lie and you know it.
Johnny was going to marry me in spite of all your tricks,
throwing yourself at him, promising him money-
So right ahead, dear.
Your theory isn't so bad, Ted,
except that there's no truth in it.
You worked here, Miss March.
You knew what time Walter Chalmers got into his office every morning.
You knew how long you would have.
You had access to every department in this building through his keys.
And that includes the room where they make the packing cases.
What are you trying to say?
I'm saying that those bodies weren't brought in here in packing cases.
Those men came in here alive, both of them.
The packing cases were supposed to make it look
as if they'd been sent in as spite work against you and Chalmers.
They were supposed to convince me that an outsider did the job
and was trying to pit it onto you or Chalmers.
The shipping department's at the other end of the plant.
I couldn't possibly lug one of those things that distance,
particularly not without being seen, and besides,
you couldn't possibly give me a motive for killing Jeffrey Warren.
Oh, no. Why not?
Why, don't you see?
His death freed the worst rival I had.
It made it possible for Betty Warren to marry Johnny.
Ha-ha! Guess that'll hold you, Craig.
You keep out of this!
I don't think I will. I say, I don't think I will.
What is a packing case made of?
Say, what's it made of?
Why, boards, of course.
Boards and nails.
Yeah, a packing case is a big thing,
but a bunch of little boards, one at a time,
they don't amount to much.
Okay, they don't amount to much.
What are you driving at, Duncan?
I seen you one day last week walking around the plant
with a board in your hand.
Word.
I often did that. I don't see the...
Not until last week you didn't.
I noticed the same thing.
I saw you carrying that board, too.
But I still don't see what's...
Don't see?
Every time I see him, he had that board.
Only, it wasn't the same board.
He brought them packing cases in here board at a time.
Little flat boards.
There was plenty of places he could hide them, too.
Not like a big packing case.
You old fool, you don't know what you're talking about.
Ah, I'm afraid I do, Mr. Chalmers.
You could have had them boards hid in your office.
And nails, too.
Nothing to keep you from throwing together
a packing box right in here.
You know, he was carrying a board around all last week.
I thought it was just an absent-minded mannerism, but...
And that second packing box.
Put in his office while Craig had the keys
and the place was locked.
Heh.
He's got more than one set of keys, of course.
But he couldn't have shot the guy without our hearing it.
With soft pine and sharp nails
and a towel wrapped around the hammer,
working on this thick rug,
he might be able to build a packing case.
But he couldn't have shot Bellman.
Bellman and Mr. Warren was probably shot at the same time.
He hid Bellman's body in the clothes closet,
along with the boards for Bellman's packing case.
In the excitement of finding one body,
nobody was looking for another.
Hmm.
I think I'll check the shipping room
and see if Chalmers had a yen for lumber last week.
I...
No.
All right, I built the packing cases.
I thought I'd be the last person in the world to be suspected
with the bodies apparently delivered to me.
You see, the logical thought would be
that no murderer would ever send the bodies to himself.
He would try to get rid of them.
I guess we got reasons for your killing Warren, all right.
But I don't get the angle on Johnny Bellman.
I wanted to confuse the issue.
And he was really the perfect victim.
His connections with Ms. Marsh and you and Duncan.
And I didn't feel bad about killing him
because he'd have been murdered some time anyway.
He had it coming.
For that matter, so did Warren.
And now, if you'll excuse me...
Hey! Hey, come back here!
Come back! Come back or I'll shoot!
He...he's starting to run!
Oh! All right!
Oh!
Will you...you killed him?
Yeah. Well, he asked for it, didn't he?
Maybe it's better this way.
I say, maybe it's better this way.
Oh, you old wretch, or baked.
Either you give me back my money
or I'll...I'll have you arrested for blackmail.
Huh? What's this anyway?
Eh, eh, nothing.
Eh, nothing, nothing at all.
Say nothing at all.
I just, eh...
Well...
Ha! I...I tried a little experiment
and it didn't work.
You got no cause to be suspicious of me.
I solved the case for you, didn't I?
I say...I say I solved the case, didn't I?
Oh, sure.
Looks like I lost money by doing it too.
The Music