The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe The Vanishing Shells Date: Feb 02 1951

Icebox Radio Theater presents
The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe
'The Case of the Vanishing Shells'
based on characters created by Rex Stout

Cast of Characters
Doris Moray..........................an actress in trouble
Emile Stoner....................her producer and finance
Paula Kenyon.................Emile's ex and Doris' rival
David Banning...........playwright and Paula's fiance
Rick Hunter...Emile's director, friend-zoned by Doris
~
Inspector Cramer, Archie & Wolfe

SOUND: PHONE RINGING, CONTINUED UNDER ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, the ringing of that phone bell means mystery! Adventure! SOUND: PHONE PICKUP ARCHIE: Nero Wolfe's office. Archie Goodwin speaking. Mr Wolfe? No, he isn't. Huh? (HEARS AN ATTRACTIVE WOMAN) Oh, well. For you, maybe he is. WOLFE: I'm not here. ARCHIE: Oh yes. He's always here. WOLFE: I've gone out. ARCHIE: No, no. He seldom ever goes out. WOLFE: I won't start on anything tonight. ARCHIE: Sure, he'd love to start on a case tonight. What's your name? Oh, that's a beautiful name. Address? WOLFE: Archie, if it's another woman, hang up! ARCHIE: Honest, I'm not Mr. Wolfe but I'm his agent. I'll be right over, Miss. Good bye. SOUND: PHONE HANGUP WOLFE: What's her trouble? Where are you going? ARCHIE: She said she's received some threatening notes and she's afraid to leave her hotel. So long, boss. MUSIC: CUE UP, THEN DOWN AND UNDER ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, it's that genius who's the bulkiest, bawdiest, most ponderous and most brilliant detective in the world. Yes, none other than that chair borne mass of unpredictable intellect, Nero Wolfe. Created by Rex Stout and brought to you in a new series of adventures over this NBC network in the person of Mr. Sydney Greenstreet! MUSIC: SUSPENSE STAB IN, THEN CONTINUED DOWN AND UNDER ARCHIE: We prefer to call tonight's story the case of the vanishing shells. It didn't seem to be difficult at first, but...well, I'm not a stupid individual, but so often, oh so often, I allow myself to become mesmerized by beautiful women. Heh, heaven bless them. Doris Moray was one such woman. She found us first, one late afternoon about five o'clock. Then again at 5:30. DORIS: Very well, Mr. Goodwin. But I'd much prefer to speak with Mr. Wolfe. ARCHIE (PHONE FILTER): Well I said I'd be there at six, Miss Moray. DORIS: I don't want to talk any longer on the phone. Please hurry. SOUND: DOOR KNOCK DORIS: There's someone at the door. ARCHIE (PHONE FILTER): I'll see you in the cocktail lounge at your hotel. SOUND: ANOTHER DOOR KNOCK. DORIS: Six o'clock, that's half an hour. Don't fail. SOUND: PHONE HANDSET HANGUP. ANOTHER, MORE URGENT KNOCK DORIS: Who is it? EMIEL (BEHIND DOOR): Emile Stoner! SOUND: LOCK BEING UNLOCKED. DOOR OPENS DORIS: Oh, Emile. Come in darling SOUND: DOOR CLOSES UNDER THE FOLLOWING DORIS: You got my call, darling. Here, let me take your briefcase. EMILE: I'll just put it here on the piano, Doris. DORIS: I'm terribly upset by those threatening notes, darling. I know it's upset you to, but I'm determined to find out who it is. I'm not going to let them bluff me out of my first chance to play the star part in one of your shows. EMILE: But look, Doris, there's that other part -- DORIS: Other part?! Is that all I mean to you? What can they divulge that will harm us, what? EMILE: Several things. And I can't afford to...I mean at this time I -- DORIS: You're frightened, Emile! EMILE: Doris, I'm going to give the star part to Paula. DORIS: Paula! You've been divorced for four years! Why?! EMILE: Because I feel that -- DORIS: You feel she can play it better, is that what you're going to say? Well I can act rings around her! EMILE: Now look Doris, I know it's a big disappointment to you but...that's the way it is. DORIS: Get out! GET OUT! Go on across the hall to Paula, give her the part. Louse up your show! She and that playwright of hers. Get out, Emile! EMILE: But Doris -- DORIS: You frightened little -- GET OUT! SOUND: DOOR OPEN, SLAMMED MUSIC: SUSPENSE STAB, CONTINUED DOWN AND UNDER ARCHIE: I believe, Mr. Wolfe, that you are making a big mistake in not coming along. WOLFE: Indeed. I'm sure what attracts you could not possibly be of interest to me. ARCHIE: A gal needs help. And money is money. WOLFE: Girls, money. Phooey! ARCHIE: Yeah, well we could have dinner out for a change. They have one of the best chefs in town at that hotel. WOLFE: You are most impolite. I am trying to read this book. ARCHIE: Poetry! WOLFE: Archie? ARCHIE: Yes sir? WOLFE: Shut up! ARCHIE: Mr Wolfe, we need money? That filthy green cabbage is necessary to our existence. And this may be a tough case. WOLFE: You're sufficiently intelligent. Some times. ARCHIE: Hmm. If I sat around like you do, I'd weigh five hundred pounds, too! WOLFE: Archie, leave the room. Besides it's only 300. ARCHIE: What a way to run a business. Orchids, beer, books -- WOLFE: Don't keep the charming girl waiting. ARCHIE: Okay. I'm going, I'm going. WOLFE: And always remember, there is a telephone. MUSIC: TRANSITION SOUND: RESTAURANT BACKGROUND, CONTINUED UNDER ARCHIE: Thank you, waiter. Good evening, Miss Moray. I'm Archie Goodwin. DORIS: Well...I didn't expect...I mean, please sit down. ARCHIE: I think I should explain the absence of Nero Wolfe. You see, there's so much of him that it's not too convenient to transport it about. I do all the outside work. DORIS: And I'm sure you do it well. Mister...? ARCHIE: Well, some women call me Goodwin and some call me Mr. Goodwin, but uh -- DORIS: Yes? ARCHIE: But the unattached call me Archie. DORIS: Hello, Archie. ARCHIE: Ahhh, splendid. I'm glad to hear it. Now we can get right down to the nasty old business that's troubling you, Doris. DORIS: First, here's the five hundred dollar retainer. ARCHIE: We thank you. Now, what's the note about? DORIS: There are two notes, both printed by hand. Would you hand me my purse, please? ARCHIE: Sure. DORIS: Thank you. SOUND: RUSTLING OF PAPER ARCHIE: Let's see. (READING) Doris Moray, if you fail to withdraw from the cast of Stoner's next production by start of rehearsals Monday, both you and Stoner will have a blasted reputation and perhaps other injuries from which you will be unable to recover. DORIS: The other one is like it only more vehement. ARCHIE: Someone or a group of someones are intent on keeping you out of Stoner's show, huh? That's too bad. His next one is said to be a sure smash hit, and a star-making part for the leading lady. DORIS: Yes, Emile Stoner wants me to play it. He's been planning on it ever since David Banning wrote the play. ARCHIE: What does David Banning think about you playing the part? DORIS: Well, I don't think he's too enthused about it. You see, Mr. Stoner and Paula Kenyon have been divorced for four years, but she has continued to be his top leading woman. Now, she's engaged to David Banning who wrote this play. ARCHIE: Makes things a bit difficult. DORIS: Of course, Rick Hunter is Stoner's director -- ARCHIE: And he's somewhat in favor of you playing the part. DORIS: Well, Rick Hunter is...very fond of my work. ARCHIE: And very fond of you as well, huh? DORIS: Yes, unfortunately. I...I like Rick Hunter tremendously. But Emile Stoner has been of greater interest to me. In fact, we're more or less engaged, Mr. Goodwin. ARCHIE: Have you had any words recently with the ex-Mrs Stoner, Paula Kenyon, is that her name? DORIS: Paula and I were great friends when I first joined the Stoner productions. But she...I don't know, I don't think she appreciated that Mr. Stoner and Rick Hunter, the director, took such an interest in me. ARCHIE: Tell me, did you ever think you were in love with Rick Hunter? DORIS: Yes. At first, I was thrilled by his artistic imagination. And then as time went on, I realized he was subject to melancholy. Mr. Stoner was more stable and I needed someone older to advise me. ARCHIE: What's wrong with your reputation and Mr. Stoner's? DORIS: There's nothing I fear. But I'm afraid Mr. Stoner is disturbed by these threats. He feels there's something in his past of sufficient import to really harm him. I think it's nonsense. ARCHIE: Than what we have to do is uncover this per or persons before you end up with ruined careers on Broadway. Where does the ex-Mrs. Stoner live? DORIS: Well, as a matter of fact she lives just down the hall from me. Lived here for years. ARCHIE: Oh. I think it's advisable, honey, that you stay close to your room until we solve this thing. DORIS: I'm not afraid for my life, Archie. ARCHIE: No? Well I am. I'll see you into you room, Doris. DORIS: Now please, Mr Goodwin, I -- ARCHIE: Oh, so you don't trust the boy, eh? DORIS: Well, I -- ARCHIE: Such beautiful eyes. DORIS: I -- ARCHIE: Lovely red hair. You can have the lead in my new play. I never wrote one, but for you I'll try anything. DORIS: (CHUCKLES) Very well. Come along. ARCHIE: Here's your bag. RICK: (COMING ON) Well, hello Doris. DORIS: Oh, hello Rick. Mr. Goodwin, this is Rick Hunter. ARCHIE: Hi'ya Hunter! Nice shows you've been putting on. RICK: I've just been admiring your work, Goodwin. ARCHIE: Uh, oh. That's nice. Nothing like encouragement for a beginner, Mr. Hunter. RICK: You're ready for the big time from what I saw. Heard from Emile Stoner today, Doris? DORIS: I talked to him once this morning. Have...you been sitting in the cocktail lounge all afternoon? RICK: Yeah. (CHUCKLES) That I have. I want to see you play that lead, baby. And I think I just about have it all settled. DORIS: Dreaming about it won't settle it. Liquor never accomplished anything in itself, Rick. Come on, Mr. Goodwin. SOUND: FOOTSTEPS ARCHIE: He's a very jealous man, Doris. In fact, right now and I feel his thoughts piercing me between the shoulder blades. Oh, excuse me, here's a phone booth. SOUND: DOOR SLIDES SHUT, MONEY IN METAL SLOT, PHONE DIALING, THEN A LINE PICKUP. WOLFE:(ON PHONE): Yes, Archie? ARCHIE How did you know it's Archie? WOLFE (ON PHONE): I deduced the time was exactly right for you to call. ARCHIE I wish you deduced it was time to earn some money. WOLFE(ON PHONE): Is this a worthwhile case? ARCHIE: Well, she's a beautiful redhead and uh -- WOLFE (ON PHONE): That, of course, makes it very worthwhile. ARCHIE: Yeah, well I got five hundred as a retainer. WOLFE (ON PHONE): Phooey! A pittance, and probably all you'll ever get. ARCHIE: What do you mean by that? WOLFE (ON PHONE): She's probably guilty. ARCHIE: Now look boss, she's the victim! She received notes threatening her reputation and her health if she plays the star part in Emile Stoner's new production. Also, they threatened Emile Stoner likewise. The playwright, Dave Banning, is engaged to Paula Kenyon. Incidentally, she lives at the hotel too. Just down the hall from Doris. WOLFE (ON PHONE): I remember! And the playwright want's Paula Kenyon to play the part. Well Archie, you have only the beginning. It is probably too late to prevent whatever is going to happen. ARCHIE: Like what, for instance? WOLFE (ON PHONE): Have you found a body yet? Call me after you've found the body. ARCHIE: What body? There's no body! WOLFE (ON PHONE): There will be, Archie. There's always a body where you're concerned. Either a body beautiful, or a dead one. Goodbye. SOUND: PHONE HANGUP MUSIC: BRIEF TRANSITION. DORIS: Thanks for seeing me to my room, Archie. ARCHIE: Oh, I'm not stopping here, Doris. I'm taking a look inside. DORIS: But I'm not -- ARCHIE: Oh, I insist. Part of my job, you know. SOUND: DOOR OPEN ARCHIE: If I fail to take very precaution, Mr. Wolfe would never - (BEAT) Look in that chair. DORIS: Emile! ARCHIE: Emile? Emile Stoner? DORIS: (NEARLY-FAINTING NOISES) ARCHIE: Oh. The three red dots on his shirtfront. Doris? Doris! Hold on! DORIS: (REGAINING HERSELF) I...I'm alright. ARCHIE: All right, sit down. That's it. DORIS: Thank you. ARCHIE: Uh, let's see. The body's still warm. What's this crumpled in his left hand? SOUND: PAPER SMOOTHED OUT ARCHIE: A horoscope. Between the fingers of his right hand, an unlit cigarette, monogrammed 'P.K' DORIS: Paula Kenyon! ARCHIE: This horoscope is for March. Something picked up from your desk here? DORIS: I don't believe in astrology. ARCHIE: Where'd he get this cigarette with Paula Kenyon's monogram? DORIS: (TEARING UP) Poor Emile! Poor Emile! I didn't believe anyone would really harm us. Why was I so stubborn! ARCHIE: When did you see him last? DORIS: Shouldn't we do something? Call the police? ARCHIE: No, no. Not yet. When did you see him? DORIS: I uh...I saw him this morning. I'm so shocked I can hardly think clearly. ARCHIE: Doris? DORIS: Yes? ARCHIE: There's a briefcase on top of the piano with a newspaper on top of it. DORIS: What? Oh. Oh, yes there is. It's Emile's. He must have left it here this morning. ARCHIE: That's strange. Emile Stoner was bald, but -- DORIS: But what? ARCHIE: It's just I'm sure he's a man who always wore a hat. But I see no hat. DORIS: He must have come up the elevators when I went down to meet you. ARCHIE: Who would know he'd come up here? The director Rick Hunter said he'd been in the bar all afternoon. What was that thing he said? He thought he had everything just about settled. DORIS: Oh no! Rick couldn't! Oh, Mr Goodwin, I couldn't believe -- ARCHIE: I could believe anything about anybody. I learned that the hard way. In my book, everybody's guilty until proved otherwise. Even you, baby. DORIS: What? ARCHIE: Even you. (BEAT) Yeah. The Herald-Tribune newspaper. Are you sure you haven't seen him since this morning, Doris? DORIS: (ANGRY) What are you doing?! Absolutely nothing! Someone came in and shot him! Call the police! I insist! (BEAT) Maybe.... ARCHIE: What? DORIS: Maybe I did leave my door unlocked. Why would I do that? ARCHIE: He couldn't have opened the door otherwise, could he? DORIS: No. SOUND: PHONE HANDSET PICKUP. SINGLE 'ZERO' DIALED (BEAT) ARCHIE: Give me the check room, please. (BEAT) Yes, hello. Do you know Mr. Emile Stoner, the producer? (BEAT) You do? Well, tell me, did he check his hat with you this afternoon or this evening? (BEAT) He didn't, huh? All right, thanks. SOUND: HANDSET SET DOWN ARCHIE: He must have carried it up here to this floor. Doris, do you have a gun? DORIS: I own a gun, yes. A small twenty-five automatic. But it's not here. ARCHIE: Where is it? DORIS: I had the handle repaired. It's been in my dressing room for a week or two. ARCHIE: I hate to do this, Doris, but I'm going to move the body away from the back of that chair. DORIS: Oh! SOUND: RUSTLING FABRIC NOISES, HEAVY ARCHIE: There. (BEAT) Yeah, three wounds. One bullet went through the upper part of the chest and out the back. I'd say right through the heart. By the angle of the wound, he was shot while sitting down. DORIS: Please, Mr. Goodwin, must we stay here? I -- ARCHIE: I want to give this room a thorough going-over. We'll go down to the lobby. I want to use that phone booth again. And Doris, I hope -- DORIS: I know what you're going to say. You hope that gun of mine -- ARCHIE: Is still in your dressing room at the theatre. MUSIC: DRAMATIC STING SOUND: PHONE RINGS. HANDSET PICKUP WOLFE: Nero Wolfe speaking. ARCHIE (ON PHONE): Oh Mr. Wolfe, may I have your autograph? I'm taking a correspondence course on how to be a detective and I think you're a wizard. WOLFE: So kind of you to say so. ARCHIE (ON PHONE): I would be just thrilled to have your autograph on the bottom of a paycheck! WOLFE: Why are you calling from a phone booth? ARCHIE (ON PHONE): What? Who said I was? WOLFE: It's obvious. There's no room tone reverberation. ARCHIE (ON PHONE): Well...you shouldn't have to ask. You know everything before it happens. WOLFE: You found the body, then. It happened just before you got there. ARCHIE (ON PHONE): Oh now look, I took the girl up to her room to be sure it was safe for her to go in, and -- WOLFE: (CHUCKLES) ARCHIE (ON PHONE): Okay, okay. And there, sitting in a big leather chair, was Emile Stoner. Shot three times with a small caliber gun, dead about an hour. One shot went through the body from the upper part of the chest through the middle of the back. Therefore he was shot while sitting down. The killer was standing, right? WOLFE: I'm listening. ARCHIE (ON PHONE): His left had was clenching a horoscope folder, and between the index and second finger of the right hand was an unlit cigarette with a monogram on it, P.K. Emile Stoner is bald but there was no hat in the room. However, on the piano was his briefcase and on top of it was a four o'clock afternoon edition of the Herald-Tribune. WOLFE: Better look in the briefcase, Archie. No weapon? ARCHIE (ON PHONE): No, no weapon. But Doris Moray says she owns a twenty-five caliber automatic and it's in her dressing room at the theater. Also, she claims she hadn't seen Stoner since this morning. WOLFE: You found no empty shells about the floor? ARCHIE (ON PHONE): None. WOLFE: What did you do with the bullet? ARCHIE (ON PHONE): What bullet? WOLFE: The one which passed through his chest and into the back of the leather chair? (BEAT) Are you there? ARCHIE (ON PHONE): Boss, I'm a very stupid fella. WOLFE: Stop bragging. The bullet. ARCHIE (ON PHONE): Boss, there ain't no hole in the back of that chair. I just realized it. Maybe he was standing up? No, then the killer would have been on stilts. WOLFE: Archie, let us pretend -- only pretend -- that you're very observant. No proceeded to Paula Kenyon's apartment just down the hall and see what she knows without divulging the fact that Stoner is dead -- and look sharp. ARCHIE (ON PHONE): My gears must be slipping. WOLFE: Archie, do you know what great event will be celebrated tomorrow? ARCHIE (ON PHONE): Yeah, my birthday! What'd you get me? WOLFE: Cuthbert's Correspondence Detective Course in four easy lessons. Good bye. SOUND: HANDSET HANGUP MUSIC: WHIMSICAL TRANSITION DORIS: This is Paula's apartment. SOUND: GENTLE KNOCK, A PAUSE, THEN ANOTHER SLIGHTLY MORE FORCEFUL KNOCK. ARCHIE: No answer. Let's see if it's open. SOUND: DOOR OPEN ARCHIE: Ah. No one inside. Come on in. SOUND: DOOR CLOSES ARCHIE: Now if anyone walks in on us, just say we found the door open and came in to wait. DORIS: That's the truth, isn't it? ARCHIE: Yeah, that's right. Well, here on the desk we have a stack of horoscopes. And a box of Paula's monogrammed cigarettes. DORIS: Mr. Goodwin! ARCHIE: Huh? DORIS: This is Emile's gray fedora hat! ARCHIE: So he was in this apartment this afternoon. (BEAT) What are you staring at? Oh! Small, pearl handled automatic. DORIS: Yes. ARCHIE: Twenty-five caliber. (SNIFFS) Yeah, it's been fired very recently. We won't touch it now. Does it look like yours? DORIS: Archie, it IS mine. ARCHIE: Your initials? DORIS: I phoned old Mr Jenkins, the stage door man at the theater to look in my dressing room. My gun isn't there. ARCHIE: Did you leave the gun out in plain view in the dressing room. DORIS: Yes. For several days, anyway. Then I put it behind the mirror. ARCHIE: I suppose many people have seen it. DORIS: I'm sure they have. ARCHIE: I hope, Doris, that your fingerprints are not the only ones on that gun. DORIS: If they used my gun to shoot him in my apartment, why would they bring the gun back here and leave it in plain sight? ARCHIE: Maybe they didn't do it just that way. DORIS: No? ARCHIE: His hat's here, the gun is here and yet he's dead in your apartment. DORIS: How can you answer that? ARCHIE: Well, maybe he was sitting here waiting for Paula and somebody called him out, over to your place, and shot him. (BEAT) Ahh, it's no good. Doesn't make sense. Now if he was sitting in this chair here, and someone entered that door...Hey! DORIS: What is it? ARCHIE: Look in that chair back. A little round hole. Start looking for some empty shells around here. SOUND: PHONE PICK UP AND DIAL DORIS: Find something? ARCHIE: No, I want to make a call. If he was shot with this automatic, three shells were ejected. And they certainly vanished. SOUND: PHONE LINE RINGS, LINE PICKUP WOLFE (PHONE FILTER): Nero Wolfe, speaking. ARCHIE: It's Archie. I'm at Paula Kenyon's. She's not here. I found Stoner's hat, a stack of horoscope's on the desk, a box of her monogrammed cigarettes, a twenty-five automatic which belongs to Miss Moray, recently fired, but not an empty shell in sight. No blood, but a single small hole the back of a chair near the desk. Doris Moray is with me. WOLFE (PHONE FILTER): Have her call Inspector Cramer and tell him about the body, and have ballistics check the bullets with the gun. ARCHIE: And the bullet in the chair back? WOLFE (PHONE FILTER): Did you find anything in Emile Stoner's briefcase? ARCHIE: Yes. I found -- WOLFE (PHONE FILTER): Never mind. Bring the girl here at once. ARCHIE: Okay, boss. Say, don't you think I ought to wait here for Paula Kenyon? SOUND: DOOR OPENS ARCHIE: Uh oh. Here she is. Bye. WOLFE (PHONE FILTER): Bring her along too, if you can. Goodbye. SOUND: PHONE HANG UP. DORIS: Hello, Paula. PAULA: Well, Doris. What are you doing here. I wasn't aware that I left the door unlocked. DORIS: It seems to be contagious this evening. I left mine unlocked, too. Hello, David. Miss Kenyon, Mr Goodwin. (MUMBLED FORMALITIES) DORIS: Archie, this is David Banning, the playwright. ARCHIE: How are you, Mr. Banning? DAVID How do you do? ARCHIE: I've heard all about your new play and I wanted to meet you. Doris thought you might be over here and the door was ajar so we...well -- DORIS: Just walked in. I hope you don't mind, Paula. PAULA: Certainly not. I used to people just walking in. DAVID We were here a while ago, then went down to the cocktail lounge for a little while. ARCHIE: When does the play open? Or have you cast it yet? DAVID Mr. Stoner handles that part of it. Are you a perspective investor, Mr. Goodwin? ARCHIE: Oh, I've had a number of flings in the business. As a matter of fact, I expect to see Mr. Stoner tonight. DAVID You do? PAULA: (ALARMED) Tonight? Here? I don't understand. What's this fencing all about? Doris you're not just visiting me. We've hardly spoken for....Oh. ARCHIE: Is that your gun, Miss Keyon? PAULA: It's yours, Doris. DORIS: Yes, that's right, Paula. It was in my dressing room. ARCHIE: When'd you see Mr. Stoner last? PAULA: Um...I haven't seen him today. DAVID I had lunch with him. Why? ARCHIE: What hat did he wear at lunch time, Mr. Banning? DAVID Why, the gray fedora. PAULA: How did it get here? That's Emile's...what is this? What are you two doing here? DAVID Where is Emile? Come on, cut out he melodramatics. ARCHIE: Mr. Stoner is dead. DAVID He's dead?! Paula -- ARCHIE: And without any further explanation, I shall have to ask you to accompany me downtown. DAVID Police? ARCHIE: If you please. MUSIC: DRAMATIC TRANSITION ARCHIE: They're still in the front room, boss. I'll bring them into your office when you're ready. WOLFE: Yes, Archie. I'm certain they're all anxious to talk. They've been sitting there for an hour, now. ARCHIE: Maybe we should make some sort of explanation to them. WOLFE: Why? This sort of technique should work very well in this particular instance. ARCHIE: Yeah, but I don't know about that director, Rick Hunter. He may be difficult. WOLFE: Does anyone know that you found the completed and signed contract in the briefcase? ARCHIE: No one. WOLFE: Good. Now we have the threat notes, the contract, the afternoon newspaper, the briefcase, the fedora hat, the gun -- no ejected shells, the horoscope, the cigarette, and the two chairs, one with a small hole in it. SOUND: KNOCKING ARCHIE: Come in. SOUND: DOOR OPEN, THEN CLOSED BY AND BY. WOLFE: Ah, Inspector Cramer at last! What have you? CRAMER: Well, we've been over every inch of that place and didn't find a single empty shell. There were two bullets in the body, one of which passed through him into the chair back in Paula Kenyon's place. They were all three fired from Doris Moray's little automatic. WOLFE: Any fingerprints on the gun? CRAMER: None but Doris Moray's. WOLFE: Not unexpected to say the least. CRAMER: The bullet that was lodged in the chair in Paula's place went through his heart. Now, he was apparently shot in her room, but -- WOLFE: But how did he get into Doris Moray's place? I'll be able to explain that when we locate those three empty shells, Inspector. Bring our guests in, Archie. SOUND: A COUPLE OF FOOTSTEPS, A DOOR OPENS. ARCHIE: Come in, please. SOUND: SHUFFLING OF FOOTSTEPS, MURMURING FROM EVERYONE AS THEY COME IN. ARCHIE: Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Nero Wolfe. Miss Paula Kenyon. PAULA: Hello. ARCHIE: Miss Doris Moray. DORIS: Hello. ARCHIE: Rick Hunter the director. RICK: How do you do? ARCHIE: David Banning, the playwright. DAVID How do you do? WOLFE: Won't you be seated, please. `May I present Inspector Cramer of Homicide. CRAMER: How do you do? (MUMBLED RESPONSES) ARCHIE: Mr. Wolfe has asked you here to give him such details as you may recall that might be of assistance to him in the solution of the murder of Emile Stoner. WOLFE: Mr Hunter, as the director whom did you favor as the star of your next production? RICK: Why, Doris Moray. WOLFE: You have been deeply interested in Miss Moray? RICK: Hasn't done me much good. WOLFE: But you do love her? RICK: I do. WOLFE: And you're deeply interested in the progress of her career. RICK: I am. Most assuredly. WOLFE: Did you know that Mr. Stoner had made out and signed a contract for a certain woman to play the lead in the new show? (BEAT) RICK: No. WOLFE: You knew that Doris Moray had a gun in her dressing room. RICK: Yes. WOLFE: You were in the hotel cocktail lounge all afternoon until you met Miss Moray and Mr Goodwin? RICK: Yes. WOLFE: And you could have seen Emile Stoner enter the lobby and go to the elevator. RICK: I could. WOLFE: Can you prove that you never left the cocktail lounge until you met Doris and Archie? RICK: Maybe not. WOLFE: Did you see Mr. Stoner going to the elevator? RICK: I did. WOLFE: Mr. Banning, when you wrote the new play, were you in favor of Miss Moray playing the part? DAVID Why no. I felt Paula Kenyon was better suited for it. WOLFE: You and Miss Kenyon are engaged to be married? DAVID Yes. WOLFE: If anything happened to Mr. Stoner, you as next in line could assign the role as you saw fit? DAVID That's correct. WOLFE: Did you know that Mr. Stoner had made a final decision on the part? DAVID I did not. WOLFE: He didn't tell you anything about it at lunch today? DAVID No. I made a strong plea for Paula. WOLFE: Did you know about the gun in Miss Moray's dressing room? DAVID Everyone did, apparently. WOLFE: Very well. Miss Kenyon, did Emile Stoner visit your apartment often? PAULA: Not often. We were not on too friendly terms. WOLFE: Did you phone him to visit you this afternoon? PAULA: No! Who said I did? WOLFE: No one. (CHUCKLES) I merely asked. Were you, by any change, still in love with Emile Stoner? DAVID No see here, I don't appreciate that kind of talk! ARCHIE: Just relax, Mr. Banning. PAULA: I was not in love with Mr. Stoner. That was over. WOLFE: You and Doris Moray were, at one time, very friendly. PAULA: Yes. Until I found out how two-faced she was. Emile was a fool to fall for her, but you couldn't tell him anything. All she's interested in is her career. WOLFE: Are you not interested in your career, Miss Kenyon? PAULA: Well...why yes. In a way. WOLFE: You wanted the star part. You phoned Stoner this morning. PAULA: Yes, but he said he was going to give it to her. WOLFE: Did you know about Doris' gun? MARY: No, I -- ARCHIE: She recognized it immediately, boss. PAULA: Well...yes I knew. What if I did? WOLFE: You wrote these threatening notes to Miss Moray. PAULA: I did not. I DID NOT! WOLFE: You didn't know the contract had already been signed? PAULA: No. WOLFE: Then you still had a motive to kill him. DAVID I wrote those notes. She had nothing to do with it. You can check them against my typewriter. WOLFE: We know, Mr Banning. We've already done that. DAVID I know how it looks but Paula didn't do it. I knew he was coming to her place. I called him. I knew Paula was out. I did it. WOLFE: If so, what did you do with the ejected shells? DAVID I threw them away. ARCHIE: How many? DAVID Three. PAULA: Oh no, David! Please, don't! (BEAT) WOLFE: I don't believe you, Mr. Banning. Miss Moray, did you know the contract had been made out and signed? DORIS: No. WOLFE: You're lying, Miss Moray. You said you didn't see Stoner this afternoon. DORIS: I didn't! WOLFE: You called him and asked him to visit you. You did get the threat notes and they frightened you. But you didn't know they would frighten Stoner. DORIS: I did not phone him, not did I see him. WOLFE: Yes you did. His briefcase was on the piano. And he was there in the late afternoon because he brought with him a four o'clock edition of the Herald-Tribune. DORIS: What if he was there? I didn't kill him. WOLFE: He told you then about his decision. He left hurriedly. He forgot the briefcase and went to Paula's apartment to wait for her. DORIS: That's not true, that's not true! WOLFE: Filled with rage, you got your gun -- which you said had disappeared from your dressing room -- then calmly put it into your bag, walked across the hall, and shot him as he sat reading a horoscope. DORIS: (BREAKING DOWN) No! No! WOLFE: Archie, her handbag! Thank you. SOUND: A LITTLE RUMMAGING AROUND WOLFE: Notice, I run my finger through a hole in the corner. She fired through the bag. And see, three empty shells. DORIS: No! (SHE BEGINS TO BREAK DOWN, CONTINUED UNDER) WOLFE: And here's the contract made out to Paula Kenyon. Too bad, Miss Moray! MUSIC: TRANSITION ARCHIE: Well, that's a good days work, boss. WOLFE: Some beer, Archie. ARCHIE: Right. Say tell me, how did Stoner, if he was shot in Paula's room get back to Doris' room? She couldn't carry him. WOLFE: Oh, now Archie, that's not too difficult. He walked. ARCHIE: Shot through the heart? Impossible. WOLFE: That's a fallacy, Archie. Official medical records show that people have walked a block in such instances. ARCHIE: No wonder Doris was so shocked when she saw him back in her room. WOLFE: The shooting took place after she called us. And it seemed unbelievable that anyone would leave the gun behind but not the ejected shells. Ergo, the gun must have been concealed when fired. ARCHIE: Yeah. Paula would have no reason to do that because she was in her own apartment. WOLFE: And these men are not the type who could have fired through their coats. SOUND: A CLOCK BEGINS TO CHIME TWELVE, BEER POURED INTO A GLASS UNDER THE FOLLOWING. ARCHIE: Boss, midnight. It's another day. I'm a year older. WOLFE: Yes. Here you are, Cuthbert's Detective Correspondence Course in four easy lessons. (CHUCKLES) Happy Birthday, Archie! (TAKES A SIP AND SIGHS DEEPLY.) MUSIC: END CREDIT MUSIC CREDITS