ANNOUNCER:
Presenting radio's most popular mystery-comedy, THE ADVENTURES OF THE THIN MAN, starring Claudia Morgan and David Gothard.
MUSIC:
INTRODUCTION ... THEN BEHIND ANNOUNCER--
ANNOUNCER:
Night -- and in the apartment of Joan Winslow, an attractive young thing just out of bobby-sox, "Plunger" Belsen, a husky young bruiser just out of football socks, is talking to someone on the telephone.
PLUNGER:
Yes, pal! In my opinion, pal, you are the type of rodent that carries the bubonic plague, of which there can be no lower! Goodbye!
SOUND:
PHONE RECEIVER SLAMMED DOWN
JOANIE:
All right, Plunger. Now come back to the couch and tell me how you carried the ball in the fourth quarter for dear old Ipswich.
PLUNGER:
Joanie, I hope you're a female with an understanding personality.
JOANIE:
What are ya mad about?
PLUNGER:
I just spoke to the individual who calls himself Alistair Floritin.
JOANIE:
(WITH CONTEMPT) Oh, him!
PLUNGER:
I'm going out to kill him.
JOANIE:
Plunger! You've got to tell me what happened in the fourth quarter.
PLUNGER:
This is no night for romance. I'm going to murder him. So long!
JOANIE:
No, Plunger, don't! Plunger!
SOUND:
DOOR OPENS AND SHUTS
MUSIC:
BRIDGE
SOUND:
DOORBELL BUZZES A FEW TIMES ... DOOR OPENS
JOANIE:
Hello, Nick! Do you remember me?
NICK:
(YAWNS) Should I?
JOANIE:
I'm Joan Winslow. You once got me out of a lot of trouble.
NICK:
Well, I've got a feeling I'm going to regret that. (BEAT) Course, I remember you now -- Joan Winslow. Come in.
SOUND:
DOOR SHUTS
NORA:
(OFF) Who is it, Nicky?
NICK:
(CALLS) Joan Winslow, darling!
JOANIE:
(NERVOUS, UNCOMFORTABLE) I, er, see you're in your pajamas. Were you sleeping?
NICK:
Oh, don't let the pajamas fool you, Joan.
JOANIE:
Is that real hair you got on your chest?
NICK:
No, I buy it by the yard from Macy's. Is that what you came to ask me?
JOANIE:
Well, of course not, you silly. I'm just nervous. You see, it's about a man.
NICK:
What do you want to do, marry him?
JOANIE:
No, kill him.
NICK:
(TAKEN ABACK) You - you mean murder?
JOANIE:
Well, what else would I mean, goofy? Now -- how can I kill him without getting into trouble?
NICK:
Are you kidding?
JOANIE:
No. It's Alistair Floritin.
NICK:
The decorator?
JOANIE:
Yes. You know him?
NICK:
Mm hmm. He's a heel. But why do you want to kill him?
JOANIE:
Because he wants to marry me. And his personality doesn't appeal to me.
NICK:
Well, that's a brilliant reason.
JOANIE:
Look at me. Do you think I could drive a man wacky? Can I pass as a femme fatale?
NICK:
Well, you'd be sort of a femme fatale, junior grade. What's that got to do with it?
JOANIE:
I could stab him in the back and claim self-defense. Or maybe I ought to use a gun and some arsenic. Nick, what do you recommend?
NICK:
Look, Joanie. With me, sleep is a major occupation. Now you go back to your kindergarten and leave a tired old man alone.
JOANIE:
You think I'm joking!
NICK:
Well, aren't you?
JOANIE:
No.
NICK:
(BEAT) Joanie, I'm going to talk to you like a father. Um, come here and sit on my lap.
JOANIE:
(SNUGGLES INTO HIS LAP) All right. But are you gonna be a papa or a sweet daddy?
NICK:
Joanie, where do you pick up such ideas?
JOANIE:
Well, ever since I got out of mini-blouses and into high heels, all the men want to talk to me like fathers.
NICK:
Well, this one is going to act like one.
JOANIE:
(SQUIRMS) What are you doing?!
NICK:
Turning you over into the official position for spanking.
JOANIE:
No!
NICK:
Yes!
SOUND:
NICK SPANKS JOANIE ONCE
JOANIE:
Ooooh!
NICK:
That's for getting weird ideas about murder in your head.
SOUND:
NICK SPANKS JOANIE ONCE AGAIN
JOANIE:
Ooooh!
NICK:
That's for waking me up! And, even worse, this is for getting me out of bed!
SOUND:
NICK SPANKS JOANIE ONCE AGAIN
JOANIE:
Ooooh!
NORA:
(APPROACHES) Nicky?!
NICK:
(CASUAL) Hello, dear.
NORA:
Nicky, you spilled that girl all over your lap.
JOANIE:
Hello, Nora.
NORA:
What was he doing to you?
JOANIE:
Spanking me.
NORA:
(BEAT) Are you sure?
JOANIE:
Of course I'm sure. My - feelings are hurt.
NICK:
Okay now, Joanie. On your way. And you'd better forget about murdering anyone. Now scat!
JOANIE:
All right. But you'll be sorry if I make a mess of this murder!
MUSIC:
BRIDGE
SOUND:
PHONE RINGS
NORA:
(MURMURS, HALF-ASLEEP) Nicky? Will you answer it?
NICK:
(ALSO HALF-ASLEEP) Oh, can't you?
NORA:
No, dear. I'm very busy dancing with Cary Grant.
NICK:
Oh, nuts.
SOUND:
RECEIVER UP
NICK:
Hello?
FLORITIN:
(FILTER) Hello, Nick? Did I wake you up?
NICK:
No, not at all. I'm talking in my sleep.
FLORITIN:
(FILTER) This is Alistair Floritin.
NICK:
Floritin? Haven't you been murdered yet?
FLORITIN:
(FILTER) How did you know?
NICK:
Never mind. What is it?
FLORITIN:
(FILTER) Just that. Someone wants to murder me.
NICK:
Who?
FLORITIN:
(FILTER) Well, there are oodles and oodles of nasty people who hate me. Some of them are my best friends. Nick, what's the best way to fool a murderer?
NICK:
Listen, Floritin, I'm not the Mr. Anthony of criminology. Where'd people get the idea of bringing their murder problems to me? I'm just a well-to-do bum living on his wife's income and I'd like to sleep.
FLORITIN:
(FILTER) Really, Nick, you wouldn't like to see me killed, would you?
NICK:
For free, yes. If you're charging admission, no.
FLORITIN:
(FILTER) Now, Nick, I know I'm obnoxious--
SOUND:
THREE GUNSHOTS! (HEARD OVER TELEPHONE)
FLORITIN:
(FILTER, GROANS IN PAIN)
NICK:
Floritin?! Floritin?! (NO ANSWER)
SOUND:
NICK RATTLES CRADLE
NICK:
Hello? Hello?
SOUND:
NICK RATTLES CRADLE AGAIN ... THEN HANGS UP
NORA:
What happened, dear?
NICK:
Alistair Floritin was just bumped off, I think.
NORA:
Oh. Well, that'll teach him not to call us in the middle of the night. (BEAT) Nick? Isn't he the man Joanie wanted to kill?
NICK:
That's right, baby. Wiggle into your woolies. We're going to his apartment.
NORA:
(WEARILY) Ohhh, I do wish people would get bumped off before we go to sleep.
MUSIC:
BRIDGE
SOUND:
APARTMENT DOOR OPENS
NICK:
Come in, Nora.
SOUND:
APARTMENT DOOR CLOSES
NORA:
Mm, it's dark. Where's the light switch?
NICK:
Here, I've got it.
SOUND:
LIGHT SWITCH
NORA:
(GASPS) There he is, Nick -- bleeding all over his Chippendale table.
NICK:
Yeah. Shot in the back. (BEAT) Somebody took this joint apart. Wonder what they were looking for.
NORA:
Do you think little Joanie killed him?
NICK:
I don't know. I thought the spanking made an impression on her - mind.
NORA:
Nick, you're not gonna find a killer in that desk.
NICK:
No, but I think I found a secret drawer. Maybe I can open it.
NORA:
(UNEASY) Darling, did you ever have a queer feeling that you were being watched by unseen eyes?
NICK:
Not since we used to neck in the living room of your Aunt Agatha's house before we were married.
SOUND:
SECRET DESK DRAWER OPENS
NICK:
Hey, I opened it.
NORA:
The bulb in this lamp is still warm. Darling, I - I've got a feeling the killer's still here.
NICK:
Hey, Nora, look at this stuff. Here's a doctor's prescription for some sort of poison and-- Why'd you turn the lights out?
NORA:
Well, I didn't.
SOUND:
GUNSHOT!
NORA:
(SCREAMS)
SOUND:
TWO MORE GUNSHOTS!
MUSIC:
CURTAIN
COMMERCIAL:
[OMITTED]
MUSIC:
BEHIND ANNOUNCER--
ANNOUNCER:
And now to return to tonight's adventure of the Thin Man! We find Nick and Nora holding down the floor of Alistair Floritin's apartment. Someone who had been concealed there turned out the lights and fired at them.
NICK:
Nora, are you all right?
NORA:
Mm hm. I guess whoever fired at us got away.
NICK:
Yeah, looks like it. Why'd you scream?
NORA:
You pushed me down and I bumped my - curves. Did you see who went out that door?
NICK:
No, darling, your heel was in my eye. Uh, turn on that lamp.
NORA:
Mm hm.
SOUND:
LAMP CORD PULLED
NICK:
And look, Nora, that closet door near the light switch is opened. That's where the killer hid.
NORA:
Well, aren't you going out and find the person who did it?
NICK:
And get shot at again? And besides I want to finish going through this secret drawer. Will you, uh, look around the rest of the joint?
NORA:
All right, dear. (MOVING SLIGHTLY OFF) What else is in the drawer besides that poison prescription?
NICK:
Clippings. About a wealthy Mrs. Gardner who was held but never tried for poisoning her husband in California. Oh, wait a minute. Here's something else.
NORA:
(OFF) What, dear?
NICK:
A letter signed by Richard Belsen, the stockbroker.
NORA:
(OFF) Oh?
NICK:
It's a confession that Belsen embezzled funds that belonged to his clients. Darling, don't you get it? Alistair Floritin was a blackmailer. He evidently made quite a business of it.
NORA:
Was he ever on the football team of Ipswich College?
NICK:
Well, I hardly think so. Why?
NORA:
Because I found a little gold football here. The name "Plunger" is engraved on it. Also the date, Nineteen Forty.
NICK:
Hm. Did you find anything else?
NORA:
Mm hm. This necklace. It has a locket on it. Joan Winslow's name is on the locket.
NICK:
People certainly seem to be losing things around here.
SOUND:
PHONE RINGS
NICK:
I'll take that.
SOUND:
RECEIVER UP
NICK:
Hello?
OLGA:
(ON FILTER; SEXY, RUSSIAN ACCENT) Hello. This is Olga.
NICK:
(MIMICS FLORITIN'S VOICE) Hello, Olga darling. How are you?
OLGA:
(FILTER) Who is this?
NICK:
Alistair, of course. Whom did you think?
OLGA:
(FILTER) No, you are not Alistair Floritin. He always calls me "Double Vodka" because I am such hot stuff. You are Nick Charles, no?
NICK:
Yes.
OLGA:
(FILTER) Alistair's dead, no?
NICK:
Murdered. How'd you know?
OLGA:
(FILTER) Olga knows. You found a prescription, no?
NICK:
Yes. Who told you?
OLGA:
(FILTER) Olga knows. I tell you what that prescription means. I tell you who killed Floritin.
NICK:
You seem to know everything that's going on.
OLGA:
(FILTER) Olga knows. Come to Apartment Eight-B, Nine-Nine-Nine East Eighty-Ninth Street at once -- and I will tell you, no?
NICK:
Yes. I'll be there. Who told you I was here?
OLGA:
(FILTER) Olga knows. Goodbye.
SOUND:
PHONE DISCONNECTS (NICK'S PERSPECTIVE)
NICK:
Goodbye.
SOUND:
RECEIVER DOWN
NICK:
Uh, that was Olga, dear. Listen, I'm going to meet her. Will you go to see Joanie and find out what her necklace was doing here?
NORA:
(SUSPICIOUS) You sound like you're trying to get rid of me. Suppose I go to see Olga.
NICK:
(FEIGNS ENTHUSIASM) Oh, swell. Then I'll go to see Joanie. I've got a good mind to give her another spanking.
NORA:
(NO) Uh uh. You sound too anxious to see Joanie. I'll see her. I'd much rather you see someone you don't know quite so - intimately.
MUSIC:
BRIDGE
SOUND:
DOOR OPENS
NICK:
Hello, there! Anyone home? (NO ANSWER) Olga?
OLGA:
(OFF) Nick Charles?
SOUND:
DOOR CLOSES
NICK:
Yes. Where are you?
OLGA:
(OFF) Here in the bedroom. Come in.
SOUND:
BEDROOM DOOR OPENS
NICK:
Hey, there are no lights on in here. What's the idea?
OLGA:
(OFF) I find it better to do business in the dark.
NICK:
Where are you?
OLGA:
(CLOSE) Right here. Behind you.
NICK:
(STARTLED) Uh-- (CAREFULLY) Would that be a gun you're poking into my back?
OLGA:
Yes, Nicholas.
NICK:
What are you?
OLGA:
A Russian she-wolf.
NICK:
(UNCOMFORTABLE) Well, don't look now, but one of your arms is crawling around my neck.
OLGA:
Yes. It makes it easier to get into your pocket. Do you have any objections?
NICK:
(SUPPRESSED GIGGLES) Yes. Can't you pick my pocket without tickling?
OLGA:
Oh, I am sorry. But perhaps this will make you more comfortable. (GRUNTS WITH EFFORT AS--)
SOUND:
OLGA CONKS NICK'S SKULL WITH GUN BUTT
NICK:
(GRUNTS IN PAIN)
SOUND:
NICK FALLS TO FLOOR
OLGA:
(BEAT, SWEETLY) Are you unconscious?
NICK:
(HALF-CONSCIOUS) Yes.
OLGA:
You must be a very hot-blooded man; it takes you so long to go out cold. But I fix it. (GRUNTS WITH EFFORT AS--)
SOUND:
OLGA CONKS NICK'S SKULL WITH GUN BUTT AGAIN
NICK:
(WHIMPERS AND PASSES OUT)
OLGA:
Better? (NO ANSWER ... SATISFIED) Better.
MUSIC:
BRIDGE
SOUND:
DOOR OPENS
PLUNGER:
Joanie, where you been? (SEES IT'S NOT JOANIE) Oh. You ain't Joanie.
NORA:
No, I'm sorry to disappoint you. Isn't Joanie home?
PLUNGER:
No.
NORA:
Oh. Well, I'm Nora Charles.
PLUNGER:
You'd better come in and wait for her.
SOUND:
DOOR CLOSES
NORA:
Well, who are you? Joanie's boyfriend?
PLUNGER:
I guess so. Uh, we prefer to think of each other as soulmates.
NORA:
Uh huh. It's all on a very elevated basis?
PLUNGER:
Yeah. Too elevated.
NORA:
What's the matter? You having troubles?
PLUNGER:
Well, look at me. Do I look like a guy who's easy to twist around your little finger?
NORA:
(CHUCKLES) If my little finger were a steam shovel, it'd be a lead-pipe cinch.
PLUNGER:
Well, Joanie can do it. She makes me do anything she wants. Makes me feel like a big dope.
NORA:
Maybe you should be firmer with her.
PLUNGER:
How?
NORA:
Well-- Be tough. Menacing.
PLUNGER:
Me?
NORA:
Mm hm. Haven't you ever been menacing in your life?
PLUNGER:
Oh, not with girls.
NORA:
When then?
PLUNGER:
When I played football. For Ipswich College.
NORA:
Football? Ipswich?
PLUNGER:
Yeah. I was All-American back. Fifth team. (AN IDEA) You know, maybe if I got into my football mood, I could handle her.
NORA:
Well, why do you want to handle her?
PLUNGER:
Well, take like now, for instance. She shouldn't be out traipsing around. She should be here. Home. (TO HIMSELF, INTENSE) One-two-three-hike!
NORA:
What on earth are you doing?
PLUNGER:
Gettin' into my football mood.
NORA:
Do you know Alistair Floritin?
PLUNGER:
Yeah. Why?
NORA:
Do you have a little gold football with the name "Plunger" on it?
PLUNGER:
I used to. Plunger's what they call me. Plunger Belsen.
NORA:
(AMAZED) Belsen?
PLUNGER:
Well, what's so amazing about that? Everybody has a second name.
NORA:
Are you in the stock brokerage business?
PLUNGER:
No. My dad is a broker. (SUSPICIOUS) Hey, what are you up to?
NORA:
Ohhh, nothing.
PLUNGER:
Aw, don't kid me. You didn't come here for nothin'. This has somethin' to do with that rat Floritin!
NORA:
Well, I'll explain when Joanie gets here.
PLUNGER:
Now, look. My dad is a very sick man. If you or anybody else tries to make trouble--
NORA:
Please, please, Plunger. You'd better go back to worrying about how to handle Joanie.
PLUNGER:
Okay. You know, if I had someone to tackle, it'd put me in just the right mood.
NORA:
Mmm, I'm sure it would. (BEAT, UNEASY) Uh, what are you looking at me that way for, Plunger? (PANICS) Don't you run at me!
PLUNGER:
(IN THE MOOD) I'm gonna tackle ya!
NORA:
Good gravy! No!
PLUNGER:
By golly! Yes!
NORA:
No! (SCREAMS)
PLUNGER:
(GRUNTS AS--)
SOUND:
PLUNGER TACKLES NORA ... THEY BOTH FALL TO THE FLOOR
PLUNGER:
(EXHALES, SATISFIED)
NORA:
(EXHALES, DAZED) What's the matter with you, Plunger? You lost your little mind?
PLUNGER:
(ACCUSING) You know something, you do. You know all about my dad and Floritin. Don't you?
NORA:
Well, suppose you un-tackle me and let me get off the floor. I don't like conversations on a low level.
PLUNGER:
(MENACING) You won't get up until I squeeze the truth out of you. And I mean it.
NORA:
(TURNED ON) Plunger, you sure worked up a swell menace now.
PLUNGER:
That tackle did it.
SOUND:
DOOR OPENS
JOANIE:
(OFF) Nora?!
NORA:
(CASUAL) Oh, hello, Joanie.
SOUND:
DOOR CLOSES
JOANIE:
Nora, what have you done to my Plunger?!
PLUNGER:
Hello, Sweets.
JOANIE:
Plunger, what was she doing to you?
NORA:
Don't you worry, Joanie. He didn't fall for me. He was showing me how he makes a flying tackle.
JOANIE:
(UNDERSTANDINGLY) Oh. When Plunger talks about football, he gets impulsive like that. Did he hurt you?
NORA:
Well, there's one thing I'm sure of -- football isn't my game. (WINCES IN PAIN) Oooh!
JOANIE:
Nora, what are you doing with my purse?
NORA:
Getting out this gun, Joanie. I thought it looked kind of bulky. (CASUAL) Get 'em up, both of you. (BEAT) Now, Plunger -- suppose you tell me how you and Joanie killed Alistair Floritin.
MUSIC:
BRIDGE
NICK:
(GROANS IN PAIN, TO HIMSELF) Ohhhhh, call off the Cossacks.
LAURA:
You feeling better now?
NICK:
(STARTLED) Wha--? Who are you?
LAURA:
Laura Marshall. I live here.
NICK:
Where's Olga?
LAURA:
I don't know what you're talking about. I just found you draped on my bear skin rug, unconscious.
NICK:
I'll bet you were surprised.
LAURA:
Uh huh. I don't like men when they're unconscious. Who are you?
NICK:
Nick Charles.
LAURA:
Nick Charles? Oh, Alistair told me he was going to call you.
NICK:
Do you know Alistair Floritin?
LAURA:
Yes. Did anything happen to him?
NICK:
He was murdered. How well did you know him?
LAURA:
Too well. What happened here?
NICK:
A gal named Olga phoned me, told me to come here, and said she'd tell me who killed him.
LAURA:
Olga, hm?
NICK:
Do you know her?
LAURA:
Yes, but-- Uh, how much did you find out about Floritin?
NICK:
That he was a blackmailer and an all-around jerk.
LAURA:
Well, it looks like little Olga's trying to get me into trouble. She was one of the women he blackmailed. There was some suspicion that she killed her husband with poison.
NICK:
Wait a minute, I had a prescription that could send-- (BEAT) It's gone. Olga stole it. The other papers are here.
LAURA:
Do you have a letter written by Richard Belsen, the broker?
NICK:
Yes, here it is. How do you know about it?
LAURA:
Belsen wrote that letter years ago to his partner. The partner refused to prosecute and gave Belsen a chance to repay that money. It was paid back -- every cent -- before the partner died.
NICK: How'd Floritin get the letter?
LAURA:
I don't know, but I do know he was using it. You see, Belsen has a son, a football player named Plunger. The old man is very sick and Floritin thought that this would be a good time to hit the son. The shock of a scandal like this would kill the old man.
NICK:
Floritin was a sweet thing, wasn't he?
LAURA:
He knew his way around.
NICK:
Why are you telling me this?
LAURA:
I'm not dumb. You'd find out anyway. Look, I'm trying to help you because I figure you'll keep quiet about me. Is it a deal?
NICK:
Maybe. How 'bout helping me some more?
LAURA:
Anything you say.
NICK:
Come with me.
LAURA:
Where are you going to take me?
NICK:
To see my wife, and a junior femme fatale named Joanie Winslow.
MUSIC:
BRIDGE (1943 SONG "PISTOL PACKIN' MAMA")
SOUND:
DOOR OPENS ... THEN CLOSES BEHIND--
NORA:
(PLEASED WITH HERSELF) Hello, Nick. You just came in time. Joanie's confessed to killing Alistair Floritin.
NICK:
(MOCK SURPRISE) Joanie! What made you do it?
JOANIE:
(UNCONVINCING AND DIZZY) Well, Alist was in love with me and he threatened me with all kinds of things unless I married him. Then tonight he got fresh and broke my necklace. So I killed him with the gun Nora's got. And Plunger's football was on it; on the necklace, I mean. He gave it to me for a present. Not the necklace; the football. See?
NICK:
Oh, sure. Sure. Uh, let's see the gun, Nora. (BEAT) Well! This gun hasn't been fired since Nineteen Hundred and Two. It has cobwebs in the bell. Look.
JOANIE:
Oh, gee, I knew I should have cleaned it.
NORA:
Why did you lie, Joanie? To cover Plunger?
PLUNGER:
Yeah, Nora. You see, earlier tonight, I said I was going kill Floritin. He was trying to blackmail me into giving up Joanie because he was in love with her. He had a letter my father wrote years ago.
NICK:
I know all about that letter.
PLUNGER:
But I didn't kill him. I swear I didn't. He wasn't home when I came to murder him.
NICK:
I know you didn't kill him, Plunger. Olga did. (BEAT, LIGHTLY) Tell us how you did it, Olga.
LAURA:
(STAMMERS) Are you talking to me, Mr. Charles?
NICK:
Yes. You're Olga.
LAURA:
You're crazy.
NICK:
I checked with the elevator operator. He saw you enter Floritin's apartment. He saw you leave after you shot at him. You stole that prescription because it proves you murdered your husband in California.
LAURA:
You can't prove that.
NICK:
Every word of it. In fact, Floritin gasped your name into the telephone receiver when he was talking to me. You know, you should never kill a man when he's on the phone, Olga. It interrupts the conversation.
LAURA:
Get 'em up! Don't move, any of you!
JOANIE:
A gun! Without cobwebs!
LAURA:
Yes, and if you-- (SCREAMS AS--)
SOUND:
PLUNGER TACKLES LAURA ... BANG! THE GUN GOES OFF ... PLUNGER AND LAURA FALL TO FLOOR
PLUNGER:
(EXHALES, SATISFIED) Ah! What a tackle! Just like in that game against Harvard!
NORA:
(ADMIRINGLY) You're getting very good at tackling women, Plunger. You knocked her out. (INHALES SLOWLY, A MOCK GASP) And look what fell out of her figure -- the prescription. Nick, you never told me that Floritin said her name on the phone.
NICK:
He never did.
NORA:
Darling, you're wonderful.
NICK:
Oh, I don't know, baby. Any experienced husband could have pulled the same trick.
NORA:
What's an experienced husband got to do with it?
NICK:
Well, he, too, knows how to tell the right fibs at the right time.
MUSIC:
CURTAIN
COMMERCIAL:
[OMITTED]
MUSIC:
IN AND BEHIND ANNOUNCER--
ANNOUNCER:
And now for the solution of tonight's Thin Man adventure.
NORA:
All right, darling, I know how you eliminated Joanie, but how'd you eliminate Plunger?
NICK:
Well, I figured that the dame who phoned us at Floritin's was the killer. She knew entirely too much about what was going on. But she fooled me by getting rid of her accent and offering to help me. Her object was to pin the job on Plunger after she got that prescription.
NORA:
And when the prescription was stolen and not the letter Plunger's father wrote, you suspected her.
NICK:
Mm hm.
NORA:
Oh.
NICK:
But there was always the possibility that she wasn't Olga, so I lied right to her face, accusing her. She, like many another amateur murderer, was under a tough nervous strain and she pulled the gun and gave herself away.
NORA:
Mm hm. I never knew you were such a wonderful liar. (BEAT) Did you really spank Joanie when I came in on you?
NICK:
Of course, dear. Don't you believe me?
NORA:
You're too good a liar. You never spanked anyone before. I don't think you even know how.
SOUND:
NICK SPANKS NORA
NORA:
(STARTLED REACTION) Oooh! (IMPRESSED) Well--
NICK:
Believe me now?
NORA:
(ADMIRINGLY) Yes, dear. Good night, Nicky darling.
MUSIC:
CURTAIN