ANNOUNCER: From Hollywood, it's time now for-- SOUND: LONG PHONE RING ... RECEIVER UP ... PAT'S VOICE ON FILTER JOHNNY: Johnny Dollar. PAT: Pat Cummings, Inter-Allied Life. JOHNNY: Hi, Pat. What's new with you? PAT: Johnny, ever hear of Everett Benton? JOHNNY: No, I'm afraid not. PAT: Investment firm down in New York; real estate, oil, mining, this and that. JOHNNY: What about it? PAT: We're carrying a hundred-thousand-dollar life policy on him. JOHNNY: So? PAT: So last night he fell out of a 14-story window. JOHNNY: Well, that's too bad. Accident, Pat? Or was it suicide? PAT: Maybe neither. I think he got pushed. JOHNNY: (HALF-BEAT) I'll be right over. SOUND: RECEIVER DOWN MUSIC: THEME ... THEN BEHIND ANNOUNCER-- ANNOUNCER: Bob Bailey in the exciting adventures of the man with the action-packed expense account, America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator-- JOHNNY: Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. MUSIC: THEME ... THEN UNDER JOHNNY: (NARRATES) Expense account submitted by special investigator Johnny Dollar to the Inter-Allied Life Insurance company, Hartford, Connecticut. Following is an account of expenses incurred during my investigation of "The Killer's List Matter." MUSIC: UP, BRIEF AND SOBER ... THEN BEHIND JOHNNY-- JOHNNY: (NARRATES) Expense account, item one: a dollar twenty, for a taxi from my apartment to the offices of Inter-Allied. Pat Cummings looked worried and got straight to the point. PAT: I don't know, Johnny. Maybe Benton wasn't pushed out that window. But there's something about this deal that just doesn't smell right to me. JOHNNY: What can you tell me about this man Benton? PAT: Everett Benton, 45 years old; doing very well in business, so far as we know. Last night about ten o'clock he fell -- or jumped or was pushed -- out of his office window. JOHNNY: This policy on him. Who's the beneficiary? PAT: His wife Claire. JOHNNY: What's she like? PAT: (POINTEDLY) About twelve years younger. Redhead. JOHNNY: (HALF-BEAT, SLOWLY) I see. PAT: Yeah. (HALF-BEAT) Well, what do you think? JOHNNY: (LIGHTLY) I think I better have a talk with Mrs. Benton. MUSIC: TRANSITION ... THEN BEHIND JOHNNY-- JOHNNY: (NARRATES) Item two, fourteen dollars forty cents, transportation and incidentals to New York City. The Bentons' apartment was on East 67th; very fashionable, very expensive. And Claire Benton looked right at home in her surroundings. CLAIRE: (BORED, UNINTERESTED) Do you mind if I fix us a drink, Mr. Dollar? JOHNNY: Not at all, Mrs. Benton. SOUND: DRINKS FIXED, IN BG ... CLINK OF GLASSES, ET CETERA ... OUT AT [X] CLAIRE: Been a pretty wearing day. JOHNNY: I imagine it has. CLAIRE: Police, questions, reporters -- you know. JOHNNY: Yeah. Sorry to be throwing more questions at you, at a time like this. CLAIRE: I'm used to it by now. [X] Here's your drink. JOHNNY: Thanks. CLAIRE: Cheers. JOHNNY: (SLIGHTLY TAKEN ABACK) Yeah. Cheers. (BEAT) You know, you certainly seem to be bearing up very well. CLAIRE: Yes, I suppose so. (CHANGES SUBJECT) Mr. Dollar, I think it would save time and embarrassment if we had a few things understood. JOHNNY: Such as? CLAIRE: You've heard of the ideal marriage? Well, Everett's and mine was not it. JOHNNY: Ohhh. CLAIRE: Naturally I'm very sorry he did what he did, but-- Well, we weren't exactly happy together. JOHNNY: I take it you think he committed suicide, Mrs. Benton? CLAIRE: Is there any doubt about that? JOHNNY: Apparently not, in your mind. CLAIRE: None at all. JOHNNY: If it was suicide, why did he do it? CLAIRE: I wouldn't know. Everett hadn't confided in me for some time. We haven't been very close recently. JOHNNY: Well, Mrs. Benton, just suppose it wasn't suicide--? CLAIRE: (BEAT) Everett had no enemies -- that I knew of. JOHNNY: I see. (BEAT) About the insurance policy-- CLAIRE: (INTERRUPTS, SUDDENLY INTERESTED) Yes! About the insurance policy, Mr. Dollar. A hundred thousand dollars, isn't it? JOHNNY: That's right. When you get ready to file a claim-- CLAIRE: I intend to, in the morning. JOHNNY: (BEAT) I see. CLAIRE: Oh, and one other thing. (WITH PLEASURE) It just so happens that I have an alibi for last evening. JOHNNY: Oh? CLAIRE: And it's the nicest kind of alibi there is, Mr. Dollar. JOHNNY: What do you mean? CLAIRE: It's airtight. MUSIC: TRANSITION ... THEN BEHIND JOHNNY-- JOHNNY: (NARRATES) And that was Claire Benton -- very calm and collected. And, incidentally, anxious to collect. I thought her over all the way to the office of Detective Lieutenant Tovich of Homicide. That's item three, a dollar-sixty, cab fare. TOVICH: Yeah, I talked to her, Johnny. She's a hard one to figure out. JOHNNY: Well, what do you think, Tovich? Did he jump or get pushed? TOVICH: You got any ideas? JOHNNY: How 'bout financial troubles? He was in the investment business. Have you looked into that? TOVICH: According to his lawyer his affairs are in good shape. Oh, he'd made his share of poor investments over the years. Wildcat oil leases; stuff like that. But in general he was doing okay. (POINTEDLY) He was worth a lot of dough, Johnny. JOHNNY: (EXHALES) Okay, let's assume he was pushed out that window. What was he doing in his office at ten p.m.? TOVICH: I've wondered about that, too. JOHNNY: Any indication anybody was with him? TOVICH: No. The night watchman was in another part of the building when Benton came in. Let himself in with his own key. There could have been somebody else with him, all right, but who? JOHNNY: Claire Benton says she has an alibi. TOVICH: Yeah. Don't know as I care for it much, but I haven't been able to break it down. JOHNNY: Who is her alibi? TOVICH: Larry Santis. JOHNNY: (MUSES) Santis? (REALIZES) Santis! Runs a supper club over in the East 50s. TOVICH: Yeah. "The Ace of Clubs," he calls it. JOHNNY: (PLEASED) Larry Santis! Thanks, Tovich. MUSIC: TRANSITION ... THEN BEHIND JOHNNY-- JOHNNY: (NARRATES) So I went calling again. But this time it was different from my visit to Claire Benton. In the first place, Santis didn't offer me a drink, and in the second place, he wasn't very friendly. SANTIS: Now look, Dollar, I already told the cops that Claire was here in the club last evening. JOHNNY: All evening? SANTIS: Until midnight. JOHNNY: Out in the bar? SANTIS: Most of the time. What difference does it make? JOHNNY: How 'bout the rest of the time? SANTIS: We were talking here in my office. JOHNNY: Just the two of you? SANTIS: (ANNOYED) Just the two of us! Now look, Dollar--! JOHNNY: (INTERRUPTS, SKEPTICAL) What it boils down to is, you've each got alibis for one another, huh? SANTIS: That's right. Now look, nosy boy, Claire didn't kill Benton. JOHNNY: (POINTEDLY) At the moment, I wasn't thinking so much about her. SANTIS: Well, wait a minute, if you're trying to pin this on me--! JOHNNY: You and Claire have been pretty friendly, Santis. She benefits to the tune of a hundred grand by Benton's death. SANTIS: (REASONABLY) Look, Dollar-- Dollar, you're blowing smoke in the wrong direction. I liked the arrangement the way it was. Why should I try to change it? JOHNNY: Well, that's a good question. SANTIS: So just let it drop! (LOW) You get me? JOHNNY: You've got nothing to worry about, Santis -- if you've got nothing to hide. SANTIS: I don't want this kind of publicity. It's bad for my business. (BEAT) You know what's wrong with you, Dollar? You got nose trouble. JOHNNY: Yeah; occupational disease. SANTIS: (VEILED THREAT) You better just get over it. Sometimes it turns out to be fatal. MUSIC: FIRST ACT CURTAIN ANNOUNCER: Act II of YOURS TRULY, JOHNNY DOLLAR in a moment. [COMMERCIAL OMITTED] ANNOUNCER: Now Act II of YOURS TRULY, JOHNNY DOLLAR and "The Killer's List Matter." MUSIC: THEME ... THEN BEHIND JOHNNY-- TOVICH: (LIGHTLY) Well, looks like you didn't get any further with Larry Santis than I did, Johnny. JOHNNY: (ARGUMENTATIVELY) Look, Tovich, both Santis and Claire Benton had a motive for killing her husband. Matter of fact, two motives. Money; and getting Benton out of their way. TOVICH: (PLACATINGLY) Johnny, I'm with you. But we're not even sure yet it was murder. We do have something that indicates somebody might have been in Benton's office with him, though. JOHNNY: Yeah? What is it? TOVICH: We found a cigarette butt in one of the ashtrays; different brand than Benton smoked. JOHNNY: Could it have been left there during the day? TOVICH: Janitor says he cleans out the ashtrays about seven in the evening. 'Course, he could have overlooked one, so I don't know whether it means anything or not. SOUND: PHONE RINGS TOVICH: Oh, excuse me. JOHNNY: Yeah. SOUND: RECEIVER UP TOVICH: (INTO PHONE) Homicide; Tovich. ---- Oh? Where? ---- Okay. Uh, I'll be right over. SOUND: RECEIVER DOWN TOVICH: Johnny, looks like we've got ourselves a little epidemic. JOHNNY: What do you mean? TOVICH: Ever hear of a guy named Arthur Mayfield, promoter? JOHNNY: No, what about him? TOVICH: They just found him in an alley -- dead. JOHNNY: Wait a minute. Don't tell me-- TOVICH: Yeah. Fell out of a tenth-floor hotel room. MUSIC: TRANSITION ... THEN BEHIND JOHNNY-- JOHNNY: (NARRATES) Lieutenant Tovich and I went over to the West Side hotel where Mayfield's body had been discovered. There was nothing in his room to indicate anyone had been there with him. As a matter of fact, there was nothing period. Item four, a dollar eighty, cab fare to Claire Benton's apartment. CLAIRE: Mr. Dollar, I really don't see the point of this. I've told you twice that I did not know this Arthur Mayfield. JOHNNY: Did you ever hear your husband mention his name? CLAIRE: I've never heard the name until now -- from you. JOHNNY: (SIGHS) Mrs. Benton, mind telling me where you were last night around midnight? CLAIRE: I take it that's when Mayfield died? JOHNNY: Approximately. I, er-- I suppose you have an alibi. CLAIRE: You suppose correctly. JOHNNY: You know something? I wouldn't be at all surprised if you were about to tell me you were with Larry Santis again. CLAIRE: You know something, Mr. Dollar? That's exactly where I was last night. MUSIC: TRANSITION JOHNNY: (FRUSTRATED) I know, Tovich! I know it could be just a coincidence that two guys fall -- or jump or get shoved -- out of windows within twenty-four hours, but I got a hunch there's some kind of connection between them. TOVICH: Could be, Johnny, but so far we haven't been able to find it. JOHNNY: Well, how about their pasts? The Armed Forces maybe. TOVICH: I've already checked that out. The answer's no. JOHNNY: Could they have been involved in any sort of business deal? TOVICH: I asked Benton's attorney about that. He's checking through all of his papers; he's promised to call me. JOHNNY: And you haven't been able to find any organization they both belong to? Any situation in which they could have been thrown together? TOVICH: Not so far. (CHUCKLES) Unless they served on a jury together; something like that. JOHNNY: Well, don't laugh! That could be it. And they might have convicted somebody who took this way of getting revenge. TOVICH: Yeah, I'll check it out and call you if we find a connection. But don't count on it, Johnny. Don't count on anything. MUSIC: TRANSITION ... THEN BEHIND JOHNNY-- JOHNNY: (NARRATES) I went back to my hotel room and stretched out on the bed while I rehashed the whole deal in my mind. I thought about Claire Benton and Larry Santis; I didn't trust either of them. But as Tovich had pointed out, it was another thing to prove it. SOUND: KNOCKING AT DOOR ... THEN AGAIN JOHNNY: Okay, okay, coming! SOUND: JOHNNY'S STEPS TO HOTEL ROOM DOOR, WHICH OPENS JOHNNY: Yeah? WHITING: (A LITTLE NERVOUS) Mr. Dollar? JOHNNY: That's right. WHITING: You're investigating the murders of Benton and Mayfield? JOHNNY: Well, I don't think they've been officially described as murders. WHITING: Oh, but they are, Mr. Dollar. I'm certain of it. JOHNNY: Who are you? WHITING: My name is Alvin Whiting. I have some information that may be of value to you. May I come in? JOHNNY: Come in, come in. WHITING: Thank you. SOUND: WHITING'S STEPS IN ... DOOR CLOSES ... WHITING'S STEPS TO WINDOW, IN BG WHITING: If you don't mind, I'd like to look out the window a minute. JOHNNY: You're being followed? WHITING: (OFF) I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me. SOUND: WHITING'S STEPS TO JOHNNY BEHIND-- JOHNNY: What is this information you have, Mr. Whiting? WHITING: A couple of years ago, three men got together and bought an oil lease from a man named Tom Nolan. Did you ever hear of him? JOHNNY: No. WHITING: Well, he was a very eccentric man; hot-tempered, violent. He needed the money badly, so he sold the lease, which then was little better than worthless. Benton and Mayfield were in that deal together. JOHNNY: I see. But I still don't understand what that has to do with their murders. WHITING: I'm convinced their killer is Tom Nolan getting revenge on them in his own warped way. JOHNNY: Revenge? For buying a worthless oil lease from him? WHITING: Last week, oil was discovered on that property. A lot of it. The property is now worth millions. JOHNNY: (REALIZES) Ahhh! WHITING: I think that Nolan, with his twisted way of looking at things, probably feels that he was cheated out of that property. JOHNNY: You're suggesting that this Nolan isn't quite all there, huh? WHITING: Exactly. That's exactly what I mean. JOHNNY: What's your connection with all this, Mr. Whiting? WHITING: I'll tell you what my connection is, Mr. Dollar. I was in on the deal with Benton and Mayfield. I was the third man. JOHNNY: Ahhhh. WHITING: So, you see, if my suspicions are correct-- If Nolan is the killer-- Then I'm the next man on his list. MUSIC: SECOND ACT CURTAIN ANNOUNCER: Act III of YOURS TRULY, JOHNNY DOLLAR in a moment. [COMMERCIAL OMITTED] ANNOUNCER: And now Act III of YOURS TRULY, JOHNNY DOLLAR and "The Killer's List Matter." MUSIC: THEME ... THEN BEHIND JOHNNY-- JOHNNY: (NARRATES) I took Alvin Whiting down to Lieutenant Tovich's office and he told his story again. I could see that Tovich felt the same way I did; that at last we were getting someplace. TOVICH: Matter of fact, Johnny, I was about to call you. Benton's lawyer just turned up the lease agreement linking Benton, Mayfield, and Mr. Whiting here. JOHNNY: Question is, where's Tom Nolan? WHITING: I don't think I'll draw an easy breath until he's been found and arrested. TOVICH: We have a bulletin out on him, Mr. Whiting. One thing we found out. About a year ago he served time for assault and battery. JOHNNY: Oh? TOVICH: Mr. Whiting, I'd suggest you take every precaution until we pick up Nolan. WHITING: Don't worry, lieutenant. I propose to remain in my apartment until you apprehend him. TOVICH: I'll post a man in the building to look after you. WHITING: Thank you. SOUND: PHONE RINGS ... RECEIVER UP TOVICH: (INTO PHONE) Homicide; Tovich. ---- Oh? What's the address? ---- Hmm. ---- Right. Thank you. SOUND: RECEIVER DOWN TOVICH: We've located the little hotel where Nolan's been staying. Come on, Johnny. MUSIC: TRANSITION SOUND: THREE SETS OF FOOTSTEPS IN HALLWAY, IN BG ... VOICES LOW UNTIL DOOR OPENS CLERK: (A LITTLE TOO LOUDLY) That's Mr. Nolan's room at the end of the hall, lieutenant. TOVICH: (LOW) Yeah, yeah, okay, clerk. Is he in? CLERK: (LOWERS HIS VOICE) I don't know. I really haven't seen him since he rented the room from me. JOHNNY: How long ago was that? CLERK: Oh, about a week ago, Mr. Dollar. If he's gone out since then, it must have been at night when I was off-duty. SOUND: FOOTSTEPS STOP TOVICH: Here we are. Try your passkey -- quietly. CLERK: Right. SOUND: QUIET KEY IN LOCK ... DOOR OPENS ... THREE BRISK SETS OF STEPS IN ... PAUSE JOHNNY: (DISAPPOINTED) Well-- (EXHALES) Gone. Bag and baggage. TOVICH: Yeah. SOUND: TOVICH'S STEPS AROUND THE ROOM BEHIND-- TOVICH: Room's been used recently, though. JOHNNY: Hey! In this ashtray. Cigarette butt. SOUND: TOVICH'S STEPS TO ASHTRAY TOVICH: Hmm. Same brand we found in Benton's office. Doesn't prove anything, but it might tie in. JOHNNY: Yeah. Tom Nolan could be our boy, but where is he? TOVICH: You say he rented the room from you, clerk. What'd he look like? CLERK: Oh, middle-aged, as I remember. Bushy hair. Sort of a wild look to him. JOHNNY: Fits the general description Alvin Whiting furnished us. TOVICH: And the mug shot I pulled out of the files. Well, all we can do now is rig a stakeout for him here, and then wait. MUSIC: TRANSITION ... THEN BEHIND JOHNNY-- JOHNNY: (NARRATES) Lieutenant Tovich posted a couple of men in Nolan's room and we went back to headquarters. While he was getting out another bulletin, I went through Nolan's record. Assault and battery; resisting arrest. There was no doubt he was a violent sort of guy. And with the indication Whiting had given us that Nolan was a little unbalanced, the weird revenge motive might fit. Then something in the records caught my eye. I went back to the office of Larry Santis at his supper club. SANTIS: Oh, look, Dollar, I told you the last time you were here-- JOHNNY: (INTERRUPTS) I got a few things to tell you, Santis. The two murder victims, Mayfield and Benton, went in on a business deal with a man named Alvin Whiting. SANTIS: All right, so what? JOHNNY: They bought an oil lease from Tom Nolan. All of a sudden last week, that lease got real valuable. Alvin Whiting figures that Nolan's the killer; says he's not all there, and he was trying to get his own strange kind of revenge. SANTIS: Look, Dollar, what's all this got to do with me? JOHNNY: That's what I want you to tell me. SANTIS: Look, I don't know anything about any of 'em! JOHNNY: Last year Nolan was arrested for assault and battery. According to the police records, the man who put up bail for him was you. SANTIS: (BEAT, INHALES, CONCEDES) Okay. Okay, so I put up bail for him. Look, Tom Nolan's my uncle, Dollar. Sure he's offbeat, but - but he's harmless. JOHNNY: Assault and battery? Harmless? SANTIS: So he beat up a guy. That doesn't mean he'd kill anybody. JOHNNY: How'd he get mixed up with Benton, Mayfield, and Whiting? SANTIS: Well, he - he was broke. I asked Benton's wife to get her husband and the others interested in buyin' Tom's lease to get him some dough. I didn't know the lease would turn out to be valuable. After Nolan got out of jail, he left town; moved to Coopersville; that's upstate. JOHNNY: Yeah? Well, he's had a room right here in the city for the last week. SANTIS: (BEAT, ASTONISHED, CONFUSED) I didn't know that. Believe me, I didn't. Look, I haven't heard from him for six months. (HALF-BEAT) That's the truth! (HALF-BEAT, HELPLESSLY) Dollar, I've told you all I know. MUSIC: TRANSITION ... THEN BEHIND JOHNNY-- JOHNNY: (NARRATES) I still didn't trust Santis, but decided to follow up the lead he'd given me about Coopersville. Maybe Tom Nolan had gone back there. I called Tovich to tell him and he had a nasty little surprise for me. Alvin Whiting had disappeared from his apartment. (BEAT) I didn't know whether Tom Nolan had gotten to Whiting or not, but I did know I had to find Nolan in a hurry. I hightailed it to Coopersville. It was a small town with half a dozen hotels and rooming houses. I made the rounds flashing Nolan's picture. Finally I struck paydirt. MRS. CARR: Why, yes, I recognize that picture. That's Tom, all right. But he told me his last name was Niles. JOHNNY: You say he roomed here, Mrs. Carr? MRS. CARR: Yes. Kept to himself mostly, but he didn't make no trouble for anybody as far as I could see. Moved in here about-- Oh, six months ago. Around the end of September it was. Then last week, he - he left us. JOHNNY: Sure. He probably found out they'd struck oil and moved into the city. MRS. CARR: You don't understand, Mr. Dollar. When I say he left us, I mean that, last week, Tom Niles died. MUSIC: TRANSITION ... THEN IN BG-- JOHNNY: (NARRATES) And there I was. But all of a sudden the deal started adding up in my mind. It was after dark when I got to the graveyard and my flashlight picked out the simple headstone -- "Tom Niles." Yeah, Tom Nolan -- resting in peace right where he'd been all through the murders he was supposed to have committed. SOUND: GUNSHOT! ... FROM OFF JOHNNY: (NARRATES) The shot knocked the flashlight out of my hand. I hit the dirt. SOUND: JOHNNY'S BODY HITS THE DIRT JOHNNY: (NARRATES) But the flash had pegged the gun for me. MUSIC: ABRUPTLY OUT, WITH GUNSHOT-- SOUND: GUNSHOT! ... IN CLOSE WHITING: (EXCLAIMS IN PAIN, OFF) SOUND: WHITING'S BODY SLUMPS TO GROUND ... NOCTURNAL BACKGROUND (CRICKETS, ET CETERA) ... JOHNNY'S STEPS ON DIRT TO WHITING JOHNNY: Well, well. Alvin Whiting. WHITING: (IN QUIET PAIN) Oh, Dollar, I-- My arm-- JOHNNY: Oh, don't worry. I'll get you a doctor, Whiting. I want you to be in good shape to stand trial. How'd you work it? Hire some drifter to rent that room back in New York under Nolan's name; some character you picked up in the park? WHITING: (MISERABLE) Oh, you've got - you've got to understand. I - I had to have the money. I was in debt. I was desperate. JOHNNY: You almost got the money, too, didn't ya? Yeah. Yeah, it almost worked! You rigged the story that Nolan was the killer; that you were on his list of victims. That way you end up in sole possession of the oil lease. WHITING: If I'd only known he was-- JOHNNY: Yeah. Never try to frame a guy who's already dead. MUSIC: TRANSITION, BRIEF AND SOBER ... THEN BEHIND JOHNNY-- JOHNNY: (NARRATES) Expense account total, one hundred forty-six dollars, fifty cents. Remarks. I turned Whiting over to the police and he made a full statement. Yeah, his motive was money. He was in the hole -- gambling debts and bills. High cost of living, you might say. But I guess he knows now it's still a real bargain -- compared to the high cost of dying. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. MUSIC: CLOSING CURTAIN ANNOUNCER: Our star will return in just a moment. [COMMERCIAL OMITTED] ANNOUNCER: Now here is our star to tell you about next week's story. JOHNNY: Next week, Dame Nature takes a hand and helps me solve a crime. Join us, won't you? Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. MUSIC: THEME ... THEN IN BG-- ANNOUNCER: YOURS TRULY, JOHNNY DOLLAR, starring Bob Bailey, originates in Hollywood and is produced and directed by Jack Johnstone. Today's story was written by Robert Ryf. Heard in our cast were Virginia Gregg, Lillian Buyeff, Jack Edwards, Jack Moyles, Tony Barrett, Parley Baer, and Carleton G. Young. Be sure to join us next week, same time and station, for another exciting story of YOURS TRULY, JOHNNY DOLLAR. This is Dan Cubberly speaking. MUSIC: UP TO FILL ... THEN IN BG, UNTIL END-- AFRTS ANNCR: This is the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.