Broadway Is My Beat: Malibu

0:01 The Adventures of Harry Nile. Morning, Manny. Manny? Hey, Manny. That's funny. He probably went around the corner for a minute. Wait a minute. What's the door to my office doing open? Manny! Manny!

0:53 Manny the tailor was the first guy in L.A.

0:55 To really do anything for me. He gave me the.

0:57 Loft over his tailor shop for an office when I didn't even have the first month's rent in my pocket.

1:02 He took my phone calls for me when I was out. He cooked chicken for me. He was my friend.

1:06 And now at five past nine on a sunny morning, Manny lies just inside my office door, face down.

1:16 A small piece of wool is.

1:17 Torn on the back of his gray sweater, caused by the exit of a bullet. Operator, send an ambulance to number 14 Molino Street and call the homicide squad.

1:35 A man's been shot.

1:37 It's dry in Los Angeles, and the dust and traffic smoke rise early and linger in the branches of the telephone poles downtown. The white ambulance and the black squad cars fight their way through pushcarts and produce trucks and pull up around the tailor shop whose owner now lies dying and whose upstairs tenant has that helpless look of a man who has done everything he can.

2:00 But who knows? It isn't enough. You the guy who reported it? Yeah. Have your name? Yeah, here's my ID.

2:22 Oh.

2:23 Private detective, huh? Harry Nile. Is this guy a client of yours? No, a friend. I rent this little office from him. This is where you work at him?

2:31 Yeah.

2:32 What's the guy's full name? Manny Fine. Manny Fine. Okay. Now tell me about it.

2:40 Well, I came into work. Manny wasn't down in the shop. I came upstairs here and found him like you saw him.

2:44 Did you touch anything? Nah. What was he doing in your office? I don't know. Was he conscious?

2:49 No.

2:49 Did you get along okay with him? Manny's a friend of mine.

2:52 That's not what I asked you. You know, most murders are committed by friends. They shoot each other all the time.

2:56 In this town. Yeah, well, I didn't shoot Manny. Know who might have? No. Listen, let me go to the hospital, will you, okay? Where'd they take him? County General? You can go, and I say you can go. You own a gun? Sure. Let's see it. Well? I don't know where it is. It's gone. Okay, Nile. Feet apart, hands in your head. Hey, hey, come on. What's going on?

3:27 I should have done this first crack out of the box. I'm not your suspect. Who else we got right now? All right, you're clean. You can sit down. Hey, what's your name? Dutcher. What, sergeant, lieutenant? Sergeant. What kind of a gun was it you had? Cold,. 38, blue. Police weapon? Yeah. How come? I bought it when I was a cop. Uh-huh. Gear? Chicago.

3:48 You're too young to have retired. What'd you do, quit?

3:51 Yeah.

3:52 Now look, Sergeant, I'd like to be with Manny. Take it easy.

3:55 Hey, Sarge!

3:56 Hey!

3:56 Yeah, what do you want?

3:58 Well, they just found another guy down the street in an alley. The guy's been shot.

4:02 He's dead.

4:03 Some neighborhood you got here. Who was he? Oh, here's his wallet. I think he was a news hawk. What, an old guy wearing a red stocking cap?

4:11 Yeah.

4:12 You know him?

4:14 Yeah.

4:15 They call him Beanie. I don't know his real name.

4:19 Social security card. Says his name was Angelo Bini... Bini Venti.

4:25 Italian.

4:26 I used to buy a paper from that guy every morning. So you knew both of these victims. That's funny, isn't it?

4:32 Can I have my card back?

4:33 Huh?

4:34 My ID. I want to get down to the hospital. You're not going anywhere yet. Come on, Dutch. Charge me or let me go. Why'd you quit the Chicago police? Personal reasons. Yeah? The card, Sergeant.

4:46 I expect you to stay around, Nile. We're only just getting started on this case.

4:51 You said it. You can't go in there.

5:00 Doctor, the man's a friend of mine. He was shot in my office. I'm a private investigator. Sorry, he's not able to have visitors.

5:06 How's he doing? His condition is serious. Is he going to pull through? The next few hours will tell. When do you think I can talk to him? I can't say. It depends on his condition. I'll be back.

5:22 Hey, is that Elsa?

5:23 Dutcher? You coming to see Manny? They won't let you in there. No, I'm to see you. Some news about your gun. We found it. This it?

5:32 Yeah.

5:33 Yeah, hey, where'd you find it? Don't touch it. You were a cop. You ought to know better. Yeah, you're right. Where'd you find it? In a trash can in the alley where the Italian was shot. Trash can? Two rounds were fired recently by the Snell. You want to know what I think?

5:48 I think when we recover the slugs that hit your buddy in the Italian, we're going to find they came from your gun.

5:53 I told you, the gun was stolen. Yeah, I remember. And if it was stolen, you won't find any prints on it. We're going to dust it anyway, so I'm hanging on to it and give it to the lab. Okay, be my guest. I don't carry it much anyway. And you, I'm keeping for 24 hours. Come on. Why? What do you think why? I'm going to try and make you for murder one. Two counts.

6:14 Come on. While I'm in the cooler, I could be out helping find out who did it. And incidentally, it's one count, not two. Manny's alive.

6:21 Now he is, yeah. Hands behind your back. Oh, you'd have loved Chicago.

6:27 There's something else I want to find out about you. I'm expecting a teletype from Chicago with all the stuff.

6:33 On you now. Ought to be interesting. Now come on, come on, I'm double parked. Okay, Nile. Everything on the desk. Turn the pockets inside out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know the drill. You'll get a receipt for them, all nice and legal. This is stupid, Dutch. Necessary routine. You know that.

7:00 You've been in my shoes. You know, I never get over being curious about ex-cops. Sure, cops don't make much money, the hours are bad, work can be dangerous, but I always.

7:14 That everything?

7:14 Yeah.

7:15 Coat pockets, too? Take it. Look for yourself. I'm not going to be wearing it. Yeah, it is hot in here, isn't it?

7:21 I don't know why you're going through all this malarkey with me, Dutcher. You know I didn't shoot anyone, so why in the world are you giving me a.

7:28 Sergeant, the teletype came in from Chicago. You said you wanted it right away.

7:32 Good, yeah. Let's have a look-see. Uh-huh.

7:39 They tell you I blew the whistle on a lieutenant who was up to his neck in the rackets.

7:42 Is that in there?

7:44 They tell you I handed in my commission because a whole platoon of brother officers were under his orders to see that I had an accident?

7:51 Shut up, Nile. I'm reading this.

7:52 I must have had something on him if I was important enough to get bumped off. I would have been if I hadn't thrown in the towel.

7:59 What this teletype says is that a former officer, Harry Nile, was given a reprimand for conduct on becoming a police officer, including striking a superior, disclosure of confidential police information, and dereliction of duties. You were given a choice of a demotion or resigning without benefits, and you chose to resign.

8:20 That's what the teletype says. You want to read it? Nah.

8:25 I can buy better fiction than that at the drugstore.

8:27 I didn't think much of you in Chicago. I didn't think much of them. Wait a minute. Homicide Sergeant Dutcher. Yeah? Let's have it. Good. Good. Type it up and send it down to me on a prosecutor's form. That was the lab.

8:47 They recovered both the slugs, one from the wall of your office and one from the body of the Italian.

8:53 They were both fired from your.

8:54 38.

8:54 And there were no prints on the gun. Right. Looks like you wore gloves, maybe. I didn't do this, Dutcher. I didn't have a motive. Motive? Let's see. Little old Taylor's in your office. You argue about something. Money?

9:11 Yeah, probably money. You lose your head. Maybe like you did to get yourself canned in Chicago.

9:17 You shoot him.

9:18 You run out of the building and there's your old friend, the Italian. You heard the shot. After all, it's, what, six, seven in the morning? So he takes off across the street and you squeeze off a lucky shot and you nail it. He makes it to the alley and croaks. You run over and make sure he's dead. Then you toss the gun away so it looked like someone stole it from you.

9:36 Oh, nice. Except for one thing, that's your man. He's alive. And he's going to tell us who shot him. That's if he lives and if he can talk.

9:46 You gotta put a man over by his room at the county general in case he can make a statement.

9:50 Sure, Harry.

9:51 You are gonna do that, aren't you? You're telling me how to do my job? No wonder you were so unpopular in Chicago. it's noon the day after the shootings okay now you should got lousy food in here so they tell me never tried it myself.

10:19 Come on, we'll get your stuff. What, you got me a hearing? Yeah, in about six months.

10:23 Listen, Dutcher, I want to be charged and get my bail posted.

10:26 Come on, the jailer wants to close the cell up. You know you can't do this, Dutcher. Do what? I'm turning you loose. What are you complaining about? Ah, you got smart at last. How's Manny? Holding his own last, I heard. You talked to him, right? And he told you what happened? Let's just say that As of now, you're no longer a suspect. Okay, Harry. Go sign a receipt and get your stuff back. I gotta go. And, Harry. Yeah?

10:59 No hard feelings, okay? They give me back my belongings, all except for my gun, which they're keeping as evidence.

11:08 And I'm back out in the sunshine again, on my way to County General to try to make up for the missing day in my life.

11:14 Yes, I remember you were here yesterday. I can let you see him for five minutes, no more.

11:19 Thanks, Doc. Manny? Hiya, Harry.

11:27 How you doing?

11:28 Hey, fine. How you doing?

11:30 Pretty good.

11:31 You hurting?

11:32 They got me doped up.

11:33 A little drowsy. Listen, Manny.

11:35 Harry, come over here.

11:36 Over here.

11:37 Yeah, sure.

11:38 Harry, watch yourself. This beluga who shot me.

11:41 Yeah?

11:41 He thought I was you.

11:42 How do you know?

11:43 He was in your office waiting for you. I opened up the shop at. It's 7.30, like always, see? And I'm inside maybe 10 minutes, and I hear a noise from upstairs, and I figure it's you, so I go up to say good morning.

11:56 Yeah, well, what happened?

11:57 I open the door, and I walk in, and this voice comes from behind the door.

12:00 Voice?

12:01 It's a guy standing behind the door, must have picked the lock downstairs and let himself in.

12:05 Yeah, well, did you see him?

12:07 Yeah, just for a second.

12:08 What'd he look like, Manny?

12:09 Looked like like a million other guys. I don't know what he looked like. It's what he said, Harry.

12:13 Listen to me.

12:14 Okay, okay, okay, don't get worked up.

12:15 What did he say?

12:18 Before I turn around, he says, real low and mean, greetings from Chicago, you punk.

12:25 And he shoots.

12:27 Ah. What do I know from Chicago? I mean, he's up in your office. You used to live in Chicago, so he must have thought I was you.

12:34 I can't tell you how sorry I am, Manny.

12:36 Forget it. It's nice to know I ain't got no enemies like that. But, Harry, I think you're in trouble.

12:45 You know what, Manny? I think you're right.

12:48 Homicide.

13:01 Sergeant Dutcher. Dutcher, this is Harry Nile.

13:04 Oh, yeah, Nile.

13:05 I just talked to Manny. Yeah, so did I this morning. The killer was after me. Could be. And Manny got a look at him. He couldn't identify him. I checked him out personally. describe him at all. Yeah, but the killer doesn't know that. The killer thinks he left Manny dead.

13:21 We don't know that for a fact. You gotta put a man outside Manny's hospital.

13:24 Room, Dutcher.

13:25 So the killer walks in, sees the room guarded, and never makes a try.

13:30 Nice thinking, Niall. How do you think we'd catch him then? When he comes after me.

13:35 Who?

13:36 When who comes after you? Lieutenant Arthur B. Nelson, Chicago PD. You out of your mind. Did you talk to Manny? Sure. And did he tell you what the guy said to him just before he pulled the trigger? Something about Chicago. So what? So what?

13:50 Who would come all the way out here to do a job on me?

13:53 The guy I fingered Nelson. You still think you're that important? Okay, Dutcher. One favor. Let me have my gun back. You know I can't do that. It's being held for evidence.

14:04 Okay.

14:05 Thanks a lot. Tell you what, Niall. You might be right. We'll run it down. And we'll put a man on you for a few days. Make you feel better? I appreciate it. Well, I gave you a hard time holding you for a day. Maybe this will make it up to you. I gotta go. Take it easy, Harry.

14:22 Yeah. The office is quiet. It's late afternoon. Down on the street, the cars and trucks clatter past. Sidewalks are busy. Everybody going someplace. Everybody got something to do. And I've got a feeling that somewhere out there, there's a guy with one thing on his mind.

14:44 Me.

14:45 Art Nelson's in town, and he's here to finish me. Harry Nile.

14:53 Hello?

14:55 Hello? Hello? Ah, now the game begins. Oldest trick there is, call up to see if anyone's home. So now Nelson knows I'm here. How long have I got? Where'd he phone from across town or across the street? Let's see. I haven't got a gun. I'm a sitting duck unless I get out of here. Yeah, I better get out of here. Wait a minute. Wait, what do I see in the tailor shop? Oh, Manny, you saved my life once, and you're gonna do it again.

15:35 It's a mannequin, a store window dummy that Manny's dressed up in a tuxedo. It's standing in the corner of the front window, looking out on Molino Street. I grab it, I rip.

15:47 The tuxedo off as I carry it up the stairs, back up to the office.

15:55 Yeah, I parked the mannequin behind my desk, just the torso, propped up in the old swivel chair, pull off my coat and my shirt and my tie, and I dressed the dummy in them. I'm working like my life depends on it, when all of a sudden, I whirl around.

16:13 The last few rays of the sun slant through the dirty window of the Venetian blind. It's making stripes across the man standing inside the office.

16:26 His back's to the door. It was a good idea, Harry, but it wouldn't have worked. I wouldn't have made the same mistake twice.

16:35 Nelson. Yeah. You came all the way out here to do this?

16:41 My summer vacation, Harry. I got the wife in a trailer camp in Monrovia. Move away from the window. It's been years, Lieutenant. You really did it to me, Harry. I thought you got off clean. I'm the one they did it to. No, I didn't lose my badge. Signore, they watch me now all the time. Waiting for a slip.

17:07 You stay with me, Harry. I can't wash it off.

17:10 I didn't tell half of what you were doing.

17:12 I know.

17:14 Every day I think about it. Wondering when you're going to get talkative again. I got sore I couldn't take it anymore, Harry. Put your shirt and tie on. I got a wonderful wife, Harry. She worships me like a god. She'd never believe a single thing in that investigation. 28 years we've been married. I got four lovely daughters. One of them gave me a beautiful little grandson last Thanksgiving.

17:44 Six more years I'm due to retire, Harry. A little spot on a Kentucky stream almost paid for. You understand what I'm saying, Harry? I've got to have those six years. I can't let anything happen to me now. Can you understand that? Sure, but let's... Now the coat. Put your coat on. See, I want you sitting at your desk.

18:12 Get that window dummy off your chair.

18:14 Lieutenant, there's a pretty good detective named Dutcher working on the shootings yesterday.

18:18 He's got a.

18:19 Just move the dummy off the chair. Yes, that's right. Now go ahead, sit down at your desk. Take a piece of paper. Not from the drawer. Just one of the papers on the top there.

18:38 Now, I.

18:40 Want you to write what I tell you.

18:43 A suicide note? Yeah. It won't work. Yeah, it will. No, it won't.

18:48 Not now.

18:48 It might have yesterday, but now you don't have my gun and Manny's talking it. Manny.

18:55 Who's Manny? The guy you thought was me. Yeah, crazy. I killed him. You mean you didn't know Manny lived? I shot him at close range, three feet. He's alive. He's talking his head off. They know I didn't shoot him. I thought he was dead. He must have run out of here in a hurry. I was mixed up when I saw it wasn't you. I got mixed up.

19:16 I ran out the door down the street and there was this old guy gaping at me across the way there.

19:22 Gaping at you? Yeah. He seen me.

19:24 Come down out of the shop here and he must have heard the shot, I guess. Started edging down the alleyway. So you killed him? What choice did I have? Old guy in a red stocking.

19:34 Yeah, I guess so. Yeah, we called him Beanie. Old Italian guy. Sold papers. Well, what could I do? He saw me. No, Nelson. What do you mean? Beanie was blind.

19:46 You wounded an innocent old tailor and you killed an innocent blind tailor?

19:50 Paper boy gee it's been a privilege to know you oh give me that gun no.

20:01 I got six more years i'm a lieutenant with 24 years in the best damn police department.

20:08 In the country I've got six more years. How'd they do, Nick, you? In the soft part of my arm. He'll be okay. How come he didn't kill you? I threw part of that window dummy at him. Lucky. Traffic was bad. I tried to get here quicker, but, see, I knew he'd come back for you. Shh. Sorry. Yeah. My hand's beginning to shake. Look at that. First time for you? First time I ever.

20:49 I.

20:51 Guess he's dead. Yeah, I'd say so. Hey, better him than me. Better him than me. Yeah. Oh, and you got one other little job now.

21:04 You'll find he's got a wife waiting for him to come back at their trailer somewhere in the trailer camp in Monrovia.

21:09 His wife? Yeah. See, he was on his vacation. You.

21:24 What are you doing here in the hospital, Harry?

21:26 Same as you, Manny. Lead poisoning. From the same guy, even.

21:30 Oy.

21:30 How bad?

21:32 It's just the fleshy part of my arm. Listen, Manny, you know that store window dummy of yours? Yeah? Huh. Well, now there's a bullet hole through it.

21:41 Some tenant you turned out to be.

21:43 New? They've put it on my bill.

21:45 Get out of my room.

21:47 You want I should have a relapse?

21:49 The Adventures of Harry Nile are written and produced by Jim French and star Phil Harper as Harry. Tonight's cast included Larry Buck, Lee Corrigan, and Jay Green. Music created and conducted by David Shire. Engineering by Connie Barton at Audio Recording Incorporated in Seattle.

22:10 The Adventures of Harry Nile.

22:14 The lunch, it was good, Senor Nile? The lunch, it was terrific, Jose.

22:20 Ah, bueno. We see you tomorrow.

22:23 That'll depend on my luck the rest of today.

22:25 Ah, then I wish you good hunting.

22:28 Good hunting?

22:29 You are a man who hunts other men, is it not so?

22:32 Yeah, I guess you could call it that. Good hunting, Senor.

22:36 Hasta la vista.

22:41 The only trouble was, at the moment, I didn't have anybody to hunt. And on that sunny day on Oliveira Street, I didn't much care. But I knew I'd be hungry again around nightfall. So I headed back to the office down by the car barns in the hope that Manny, the tailor, would have good news for me. Manny not only picks horses and carries numbers, but he also has a telephone, which he lets me use for the business, when there is any. Manny's shop is downstairs. My office is upstairs. We make a lovely pair.

23:14 Hey, you schmiel. Where you been? Having lunch. Do you mind?

23:18 You ought to bring a lunch bear like I do. You wouldn't miss so many calls.

23:22 Hey, I got a call. Right here.

23:23 I wrote it down.

23:25 Crestview 6897. Did you get his name? Did I get his name? We're in the money. We're in the money.

23:33 Mr.

23:34 Edwin Tyner.

23:35 Well, you know who Mr. Edmund Turner is?

23:38 Only one of the richest men in L.A.

23:40 Yeah, well, then what's he doing calling me?

23:42 Listen, you want I should interview your prospects, too?

23:44 That costs you extra.

23:45 Okay, okay, give me the number.

23:47 Here.

23:49 Edmund Turner.

23:51 Edmund Turner.

23:53 Why is that name so familiar? He's in the movies. He's in the movies. He's a big producer. Don't you read the papers? Now, you mind if I shut the door? And that's how it began. Looked like the easiest case in the world.

24:11 Not even a case, just a little bodyguard job. Not even a bodyguard job. More like a chaperone job. The hours were short and the money was long. Well, it just shows you you can't take anything for granted.

24:24 Not in L.A.

24:26 Not if you're a private detective named Harry Nile. Phil Harper is starring as the hard luck private eye of the 1940s. in another Harry Nile detective mystery. And now, The Adventures of Harry Nile. The Spaniards who got here first named the place the City of Our Lady of the Angels. But by the time I got to L.A., the angels must have flown away. The all-year club tells the tourists that it's all orange groves and movie stars.

25:01 The Southern California Chamber of Commerce will mail you pictures of sunbathers.

25:05 At the beach in the Tournament of Roses parade.

25:08 Living where I do in my office down by the car barns, I don't get out much except on Sundays when I take the big red PE trolley down to Long Beach for a stroll on the Fun Zone Pier. And just like most Angelenos, I've never even seen a movie star. That is until several hours after I got that phone call from the producer, Edmund Turner. And that's when this whole big firecracker got touched off.

25:31 He wanted to see me in his office.

25:33 Me.

25:33 It smelled like money. Lots of it.

25:36 So I gambled five bucks on a taxi ride to Studio City. The offices ran for a block down a palm-shaded street. The orange stucco arches must have been Hollywood's idea of a Spanish castle. After getting nodded at by three secretaries who didn't approve of my old brown suit and my gray felt hat, at last I mushered into the office of Edmund Turner.

25:58 Mr.

25:58 Nile.

25:59 At your service.

26:00 Have a chair. Thanks. You smoke? Care for a cigar? Try one of these.

26:04 Thanks.

26:07 Havana? Cuba Rico. You like it? Take another.

26:11 I will.

26:13 May I ask you a very blunt question, Mr. Nile? Sure. How good are you? Pretty good. You see, I deliberately chose you because of your obscurity. Well, I qualify. But I must pursue the point. Can you do what I need to have done? I don't know. You haven't told me what you want. I want you to prevent a kidnapping.

26:35 Who's the victim supposed to be?

26:40 My little girl, Cerise.

26:41 Oh.

26:44 Well, why are you afraid you'll be kidnapped? Because that's how they work. They don't just kill you, not at first. They take the thing you love the most.

26:53 Then, if they don't get their way.

26:55 Now listen, hold on. You better start over. You talking about a gang, an organization?

26:59 Certainly. I never heard of it working that way. You mean your daughter's been threatened by them? I've been threatened.

27:05 But how much are they demanding?

27:06 They don't want money.

27:07 They want to stop me from finishing the picture I've been doing. It's all about organized crime. It's the hottest thing ever filmed. It'll blow the top off the whole syndicate.

27:18 Oh, I get it. Only....

27:22 I'm surprised they didn't make the snatch and then demand that you scrap the picture.

27:26 Oh, they're very subtle, very clever. But they've got me cornered. My daughter means more to me than anything in the world. But this picture can help wreck organized crime. It can clean out racketeers and crooked cops. Niall, it's got to be released. So I have a plan. I want you to guard Cerise 24 hours a day for the next three days. The picture opens Friday in Los Angeles. They'll try to get to her before then and force me to cancel the premiere.

27:58 Mr.

27:58 Turner, let me ask you. Why didn't you call the police in? I intended to at first.

28:04 But then I thought.

28:06 How's this going to look in the papers? As if I'd rigged the police protection for a publicity stunt.

28:11 Oh, yeah.

28:12 I see. And as for hiring any of.

28:14 The better-known private detectives or bodyguards, that's just what the mob would expect me to do. So they could get to them and bribe them to.

28:22 Look the other way at the proper moment. You see what I mean? Yeah.

28:26 So that's why I deliberately went for someone obscure. The last person the mob would ever think I'd use. Excuse me, I don't mean to be rude, but your very lack of a reputation made you the right choice for me.

28:38 You understand my thinking? Oh, sure.

28:40 Sure.

28:41 Only I was just wondering, why don't you just take your daughter and go somewhere for a while? You don't have to be here in L.A. for the opening, do you?

28:49 Yes.

28:49 Or do you?

28:50 I have a lot of last-minute work to do on the print. I'm doing last-minute cutting myself. I can trust no one else. I'll be here all night editing it.

28:58 I see. Name your figure.

29:02 Well, against the bar.

29:04 Name what you want.

29:06 It's going to come a little higher than usual.

29:08 Name it. 500 a day, plus expenses.

29:13 Is that.

29:13 I'll write you a check this minute.

29:14 Ah, well... And why are you doing that? Can you tell me where your daughter is? At home. With her mother? Her mother and I are separated. She's home alone?

29:27 How old is she?

29:27 22.

29:28 22? Well, I thought, I thought for the way you were talking.

29:34 Here's your check, Mr.

29:35 Nile.

29:36 The address is on it. I suggest you get there immediately. Show her this check. It'll identify you and she'll let you in. I take a taxi from the studio to a part of town I've never been in before. It's just east of Beverly Hills near West 4th and Beverly Boulevard.

30:00 It's a hot afternoon and the cabbie wants to talk. But I'm sitting in the back of that DeSoto with cold chills and sweat like ice water. And it's not the flu. It's an old enemy of mine called fear. Listen, I know why Turner didn't blink when I named my price.

30:15 He knows.

30:16 And I know. I could be dead in a couple of hours trying to keep the syndicate boys from snatching his daughter. When we get to the address, I tell him to drive on past and let me out a block away. I pay him off, and then I start back alone down the sidewalk, looking for any sign that the boys might already be there. But I get to the Turner's house, which is a big one, and nothing's happened.

30:39 So I push the doorbell and I wait. At last, someone eyes me through the little window in the door, and I hold up the check. After another few seconds, she lets me in. And I'm thinking, this crazy town. This lovely black-haired girl with the deep, wounded eyes is maybe the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.

30:59 Her dad's a famous producer, and his own daughter should be a star. Hello.

31:05 Uh, don't you think we better close the front door?

31:08 Yes, please. You're, uh, you're Cerise.

31:14 My name's Harry Nile. I'm the guy your father hired.

31:17 I know.

31:19 Do you have a gun? Yes.

31:20 Are you good with it?

31:22 Good with it? Do you mean, do I hit what I aim at?

31:25 Yes.

31:26 Yeah, usually.

31:27 Hey, look, you can relax now.

31:29 No, I can't.

31:30 Sure you can. Let me do the worrying.

31:32 First thing I want to do is go through the house from top to bottom, check all the doors and the windows.

31:36 All right.

31:38 And then?

31:39 Then we settle down for the night.

31:46 At 10 o'clock, Cerise brings me a big pot of coffee and goes to her bedroom. I'm downstairs playing solitaire under a single bridge lamp. My gun is on the table. The coffee's on an electric warmer, and I figure I'll be nervous, but wide awake when the morning comes. However, I was wrong. Somewhere out of a foggy dream, a telephone is ringing. The sun streams through the French doors.

32:15 It's morning. Hello? Mr. Noel, everything all right this morning? I think so. What do you mean you think so? Just a minute, just a minute, Mr. Turner. Cerise! Cerise! The room looked like a cyclone had blown through it.

32:53 The bed was torn apart, chairs and lamps toppled over, a closet door was open, and the curtains were blowing at a wide open window. They'd done it. They'd kidnapped Cerise.

33:09 Harry Nile will return in a minute.

33:14 Now, back to the adventures of Harry Nile. I never felt so foolish in my life. All I had to do was lay down my life protecting a beautiful 22-year-old girl from being kidnapped, and they'd done it while I was asleep.

33:31 Asleep.

33:33 Safe. While the daughter of my client was fighting for her life upstairs 40 feet away.

33:39 I'm not blaming you, Mr. Nile. I think you did your best. The coffee didn't do the trick. I can't believe it.

33:45 I've never dozed off on a surveillance case before.

33:48 I should have known. I should have known. Known what? The syndicate. Nothing stops them. Ever.

34:07 When the police were through in Turner's house, they dusted every likely place for prints, questioned all the neighbors, and kept the lights in my eyes for 12 hours. After all, I was a suspect. But finally, they turned me loose. I had no place to go. It was strictly a police matter now, and I knew better than to mess with them. Turner was staying on at the studio, so I went to him and got his permission to go back to his house and try my own investigation. I had the key in my hand at the front door when the door suddenly opened.

34:37 Who are you? Harry Nile. Who are you?

34:40 Maxine Turner.

34:41 Maxine Turner? Ah, the former Mrs.

34:44 The present Mrs.

34:45 Turner.

34:46 We're separated, not divorced.

34:48 My mistake. May I come in? Why?

34:51 What do you want?

34:53 Well, since I'm the guy who let your daughter get kidnapped, I still feel responsible to try to.

34:57 You let her get kidnapped? What are you talking about?

35:01 I'm the private investigator your husband hired to protect Cerise.

35:05 Oh. Your husband gave me a key so I could come back and go through the house one more time.

35:10 All right. Come in.

35:12 Thank you.

35:13 How did it happen?

35:14 I don't know. I was pouring coffee down me like mad, and the next thing I knew, it was morning.

35:20 And they'd slipped in and taken her away. The coffee?

35:22 Yeah, that's what I thought. I told the police. They laughed a lot at that. Yeah, and I don't blame him. There was nothing in my coffee but coffee.

35:33 Then what do you hope to find?

35:34 I'll be honest, I don't know. May I ask what brought you back here?

35:39 I just wanted to be here in case there was any news.

35:46 Where do you live now?

35:48 In Santa Barbara. Have you seen your husband since this happened?

35:53 No.

35:56 Mm-hmm.

35:57 Are you still in his employ, Mr.

35:58 Nile?

35:59 I never even cashed his check. I gave it back to him yesterday, right after he came over in the morning.

36:05 Then your presence here is.

36:06 It's on the house.

36:08 Very generous.

36:10 Why did you and Mr. Turner split up?

36:13 I think that's between Mr. Turner and myself.

36:16 No, it really isn't anymore, Mrs.

36:17 Turner.

36:18 Your daughter is kidnapped, and I think any question is fair at a time like this.

36:23 Are you?

36:25 Well.

36:26 If it adds anything to the case, Ed and I found we had very little in common after 25 years.

36:32 How come?

36:34 I don't know how come. Ask him. He loved his work more than he loved me.

36:40 That's too bad.

36:42 Yes, I thought it was too bad, too.

36:45 This new picture he's just finished, have you seen it?

36:48 No.

36:48 I hear it's pretty sensational.

36:51 I hope for his sake it will be.

36:53 He's still making changes on it, he says.

36:55 That's very typical.

36:57 Really a dedicated worker, that husband of yours. Mr.

37:00 Nile, I don't see how this conversation can help bring my daughter back.

37:05 If you want to be of help, fine. But you must excuse me now.

37:10 Certainly. And you've helped me quite a lot. You really have.

37:13 I can't see how.

37:15 Oh, by the way, where are you going to be staying while you're in L.A.? I have a sister in Glendale.

37:20 Could I get her address, just in case?

37:23 I suppose so. I'll write it out for you.

37:27 Here's a pencil.

37:28 I have one, thank you.

37:30 This is the only place you and Mr.

37:32 Turner had?

37:33 What?

37:34 Oh, I was just wondering if you had a cabin somewhere.

37:37 Palm Springs, Arrowhead.

37:39 We have a beach house at Malibu. Here, here's where I'm staying.

37:43 Thanks a lot. I'll walk you to the door.

37:45 I know my way out of this house.

37:47 Thank you.

37:54 As soon as Mrs. Maxine Turner had cleared the front porch, I started on the upstairs. That's Cerise's bedroom. I figured the cops had done a pretty thorough job of that. Besides, what I was looking for wasn't likely to be in her bedroom. Instead, I checked through the medicine cabinets, the dressers in Mr. Turner's room, had myself a field day.

38:12 And finally, I found what I was looking for. Being in reduced circumstances once more.

38:18 After returning Mr.

38:19 Turner's check, I had to take the ever-loving Pacific Electric wherever I wanted to go.

38:25 Fortunately, the L.A.

38:26 Trolley system is cheap, and it goes just about everywhere, so I let it trouble me as close as possible to the downtown theater where Turner's big movie was being premiered. And I was first in line when the box office opened. I bought a ticket and I hung around the lobby smelling the mixture of popcorn and disinfectant and dust that every theater smells of. And eventually, the patrons began to pour in. Most of them were buzzing about the sensational kidnapping of the producer's daughter. Some even bought late addition to the Herald Express, which had a huge photo of lovely, dark-haired Cerise on the front page. I was no different from the rest of the moviegoers. I could hardly wait for the show to begin. The last big red car

39:13 arrives at Santa Monica at 12.15 a.m., and I was on it. From there, it's not a very long walk up the coast highway to Malibu, and I was in no hurry anyway. Truck stopped, served good coffee. No danger of falling asleep this time. And I wanted to hit Malibu just about dawn which I did the sand between my toes and under my instep woke me up I hadn't walked barefoot in the sand since I was a little kid and I'd never done it at dawn along the Pacific Beach The tide was way out this morning.

39:52 There wasn't a soul to be seen for miles. Just a few seagulls and the surf and me. When I got to the spot I wanted, I sat down under somebody's deck and I just waited. An old gentleman came walking by with his fishing gear and he kept right on walking. Eight o'clock. It was getting warm already. Then I heard a door slam somewhere above me, and a blonde-haired lady in a beach robe hurried down onto the sand from the house next door to my hideout. She shed the robe, and she ran into the breakers. She'd waded far out from the dry sand to get to the surf. I ambled over to her robe, and I spread it out, and I sat down on it. It took her four or five minutes to spot me, and when she did, she just stood in the water, the

40:38 waves pounding around her legs. Finally, she plodded on back up to the shore.

40:44 How did you find out, Mr.

40:45 Nile?

40:47 Oh, I guess there were three things. No, four things. That many? Well, it was the way I dozed off, first of all. I never do that.

40:57 Nobody could have gotten into the house to dope me, so it had to be an inside job. And then there was the bottle of black hair dye in the bathroom cabinet. And the photos of you on your dad's dresser.

41:08 As a blonde. Incidentally, I really prefer you as a blonde. So do I.

41:15 What else?

41:17 Well, next I guess was finding out about this beach house. How did you find it out?

41:23 Your mother told me.

41:24 Oh.

41:25 I suppose she's worried sick.

41:28 Wouldn't you be? But the clincher was the movie.

41:31 Dad's movie?

41:33 Yeah. I attended the premiere last night.

41:36 How was it?

41:37 May I be frank?

41:38 No. I know. It had to be awful.

41:41 It was the most stupid, fakey flop I've ever seen. The audience laughed all the.

41:46 Way through it. Oh, no.

41:48 Poor Daddy.

41:49 Of course, all this could have been coincidence. And I'd have never suspected an inside job. Except that I found the chloral hydrate you used on me. And the cops didn't.

41:59 But I put it in a nail polish remover bottle. Yeah, I know.

42:03 I smelled the bottles.

42:05 All of them. The cops didn't.

42:08 Say, you've got to be careful with chloral hydrate. That could really hurt a guy.

42:11 I'm sorry.

42:13 I'm sorry about the whole darn thing, but Daddy was so desperate.

42:17 He knew the picture was terrible, so he cooked up this kidnapping thing for publicity.

42:21 And he hired you to verify the kidnapping.

42:24 Well, it isn't going to help the picture. But people will be standing in line to see it when this story gets in the papers.

42:29 Do you think so?

42:30 Sure. People watch dogfights. They stand around at auto accidents.

42:35 Can I have my roll now?

42:37 Oh, sure. Excuse me. And what do you do now?

42:42 Arrest me?

42:43 No.

42:45 First you cook me up some eggs and bacon.

42:48 Coffee. Without the knockout drops.

42:59 They gave Edmund Turner a stiff fine and suspended jail sentence for falsely reporting and planning a kidnapping. And Cerise was convicted with him, partly on my evidence. They think Turner is through in the movies. But it turns out some smart agent got a hold of Cerise and gave her a screen test.

43:15 Now, what do you know?

43:17 She's making a movie. Everybody was so surprised to find out she could act. But not me.

43:23 No, sir.

43:25 Not Harry Nile.

43:28 Tonight, Norm Bobrow was heard as Jose and Manny, Rudy Perez as Turner, Beverly Badgett as Cerise, and Pat French as Maxine Turner.

43:37 The adventures of Harry Nile are created and produced by Jim French and feature Phil Harper in the title role. The program is produced at Audio Recording Incorporated in Seattle. Join us next week for another Harry Nile detective mystery. Jack Spencer speaking. Maybe if I keep my head pressed hard enough against this train window, I'll be able to shake some sense into it.

44:04 Some answers.

44:05 Like why? Why am I out here in California, where I never wanted to be, with another man's thousand bucks in my pocket, heading for a rendezvous with a guy I've never seen, to do a job I never thought I'd be doing?

44:17 A job of murder.

44:19 I guess it goes back to my lousy luck. My losing streak. Yeah, with some guys, it's booze they can't handle. With me, it's gambling.

44:33 Mr. Nile, how nice you've come to see me.

44:37 Yeah, I got your invitation.

44:38 I see you did. You can let go of him now, Sully.

44:42 It's going to cost you where this hippo of yours tore my suit.

44:45 Oh, I'll deduct it from what you owe me, Harry.

44:47 Yeah, very funny.

44:48 You can go now, Sully.

44:53 All right. What do you want, Corio?

44:55 I want my money, Harry.

44:56 You'll get it. You'll get it just as soon as I get it. I'm good for it.

44:59 You know that.

45:00 No, you're not. Not anymore.

45:02 Listen, I've been one of your oldest and best customers.

45:05 Oldest, yes.

45:07 But Corio's has a rule, Harry. We pay when you win. You pay when you lose.

45:13 I won't lie to you, Corio. My collections have been lousy lately. I'm still waiting to get paid for a divorce job I did ten months ago. And two runaways still owe me from summer. What are you going to do?

45:23 And you shouldn't gamble when you haven't got it to lose.

45:26 I know it.

45:27 You ought to know.

45:28 All right, Corio, lay it on the line. You going to make small talk all night, or do you want to spell out what you have in mind?

45:33 To begin with, Niall, I don't like your attitude. You're not a cocksure private dick to me.

45:38 To me, you're just a deadbeat.

45:41 Look, I intend... I let.

45:43 You get into me for more than eight grand. You never would have got that far if I hadn't trusted you. But you betrayed me, Niall. And nobody betrays Vito Corio.

45:55 Nobody.

45:56 Okay, so where do we go from here? You're going to have Hippo stomp on me? What's that going to get you?

46:00 Well, I'm a practical man, Harry. I could have you killed, but that wouldn't get me my money.

46:06 I'll get you the money.

46:08 I'll pay it back on the installment plan, like buying a Frigidaire.

46:12 I'm using, Harry. You won't be seeing $ 8, 000 all year long. Besides, you might even be drafted. They're talking about it.

46:22 Well, I'll do the best I can.

46:24 Which won't be good enough.

46:25 Try me.

46:26 I've tried you. You're the loser.

46:29 I had a streak.

46:31 That's all.

46:31 Shut up, Harry. From now on, you're doing what I tell you to do.

46:34 Nobody tells me.

46:36 I'm telling you because I own you. And now I'm telling you what you're going to do. You're going to do a job for me, Harry. A job that's worthy of your talents. And when you've done the job, I erase the debt. I.

46:53 Uh, I don't think I want to work for you.

46:56 You haven't got any choice.

46:58 Corio, the only kind of job you'd pay a grand for is something I won't do.

47:02 Oh, you'll do it, all right.

47:03 It's a gun job, right?

47:05 Laid out easy for you.

47:06 No, Corio.

47:08 You'll be saving the state of California an electric bill.

47:11 California?

47:12 Hey, I like it here in Chicago.

47:14 Target is a very bad man, Harry.

47:16 I won't kill for you.

47:18 If you know him, you might even enjoy the job.

47:20 I won't kill for you.

47:22 Yes, you will, Harry. We'll argue and you'll shoot off your mouth at me. It'll end up that you'll be taking to Santa Fe for Los Angeles tonight. But when you get to L.A., you'll find him and do it. Just like I'm telling you. Because if you don't, now that you know I'm ordering a man's death... I'll have you killed.

47:43 How's that going to get you your money back?

47:45 Oh, I don't expect my money back.

47:48 I expect to get something for my $ 8, 000 and you're going to get it for me. I want this job done with some finesse. I want it never to get traced back to this organization. It's got to look accidental.

48:03 You're very good at details, Harry.

48:05 Hey, you're afraid of this guy.

48:07 Accidental, remember?

48:09 Who is he?

48:10 It's all written out for you, Harry, in this envelope.

48:15 Go on, take it. Open it.

48:18 You mean now?

48:19 Now.

48:22 Now read it. Memorize it.

48:24 Simon Adler? Adler.

48:27 Business address, Adler Importing Company, 311 West Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles. Residence, 92 Mariposa Canyon Road, Los Angeles. I never heard of it. What does he import?

48:40 Nothing.

48:40 It's a front.

48:41 What he really does is he's getting control of the movie industry, the theaters. He's almost as big already as Fox West Coast. He's like an octopus, Harry. You sign up with Adler and you play the pictures he sends you. Pictures he owns. Made with actors he owns. Lousy pictures. But you either play them or some night your movie house burns down.

49:04 Sounds like a good racket. What is it to you?

49:07 Because Adler's coming east.

49:08 So?

49:09 Some detective you, uh... I happen to own 20 theaters in this town.

49:13 What?

49:14 Not in my name, but they're mine.

49:16 I'm not gonna bump off some racketeer.

49:18 Adler personally killed three people.

49:20 A theater manager in Westwood, and a projectionist, and an old lady in a fire he set in Highland Park. He's nothing but a torpedo, Harry. He can't be touched by the law. I think he's too smart. Or maybe he owns someone. But he's gonna be stopped. Now, What's his name?

49:40 Simon Adler.

49:41 Business address?

49:43 Pico Boulevard. 311 West Pico.

49:46 Home address? 92 Mariposa Canyon Road. Good.

49:51 Give me the paper.

49:53 And this is his picture. He's tall and bald. Don't ever forget that face. I don't care how you do it. Only make it look like an accident. Now here's another envelope. This one you keep. Tickets on the 11 o'clock train tonight. First class accommodations. The hotel you're going to stay in, also first class, with a phone in the room.

50:18 I want to know how to get in touch with you.

50:21 Also, a thousand bucks expense money.

50:25 You had this all made up.

50:26 I was sure you'd go for it. I mean, look at it this way. Your doctor ordered you to go west for your health.

50:33 And I'm the doctor.

50:35 Yeah, Coriole. You're the doctor.

50:38 Two nights ago, I'm Harry Nile, private investigator. Now I'm Harry Nile, paid assassin. Why didn't I go to the police and tell them the whole thing? Because Corio would have had me killed, and there isn't any place to hide from a guy in his organization. We go through a station marked Ontario, and it makes me think of Canada, which makes me think of just getting off one train and on to another and living in Canada for a few years, or Alaska, maybe. But I know it's no good.

51:04 There's only one way to get Corio off my back, and that's to get Simon Adler off his back.

51:09 Union Station, Los Angeles. It's December 31st, and I'm sweltering in my overcoat.

51:14 It's sunny, and people are going around in shirt sleeves and straw hats like the middle of July. I always said anyone who lived out here was crazy. I get my bags, and I tip the red cap by peeling one of the skins off my big bankroll in my pocket. His eyes bulge up like golf balls, and I realize I've given him a tan. You better watch that. I don't know how long that grant has to last me or where it's going to have to take me.

51:38 Taxi, mister?

51:39 Yeah.

51:40 Red Camp put these bags in my truck, will you?

51:42 Yes, sir. Where are you headed? The Biltmore Hotel.

51:47 Right. From the back of the yellow 1938 DeSoto, I watched the city jiggle by. Somewhere there's a place called Pico Boulevard, and somewhere along that street there's an office with a man in it.

52:04 A man I have to kill.

52:06 I try to keep thinking of it as an execution, thinking about the rotten racket he's in and the people he's killed. No matter how I run it over in my mind when I see myself pulling the trigger on Simon Adler, I see myself taking my place along with Adler, plunging headfirst into the everlasting torment of hell. In fact, I can almost smell the sulfur.

52:28 You smell that stuff? What, what? That's coming in from Signal Hill, I'll bet you. I hear they just brought in a gusher today. I don't know what you're talking about. Signal Hill's out by the beach. It's an oil field. That smell is from the refineries. Awful, isn't it? Yeah. Hey, who do you like in a bowl game? You got me.

52:47 Don't you know who to pick? I don't even know what bowl. The Rose Bowl. It's tomorrow. Trojans and Tennessee. I picked USC by 14 points. It's going to be like last year. Last year, USC beat Duke.

52:59 You know.

52:59 No, I didn't, but I'll take your word for it. You going to see the game?

53:02 No.

53:03 Going to watch the Rose Parade? Over in Pasadena? No. Well, there's always next year. What makes you think I'll be here next year? Well, where would you go?

53:12 I mean now.

53:13 Now that you're here in God's country.

53:20 My room at the Biltmore looks out over a small park. I stand at the.

53:23 Window a long time. Two days on the train in Chicago and Corio seem like a lifetime away, and I feel almost free. until I undress and take a shower and I pile Corio's money on my dresser. Oh, well, I think Judas did it for a lot less, and the man I'm going to kill isn't going to be missed or mourned very much. The shower makes me feel better.

53:45 I like the rich feel of the fresh bath mat beneath my toes, and when my feet are dry, I walk out into the room and I almost fall down. The guy's making absolutely no effort to hide the shoulder holster strapped over his white shirt. He's sitting on my bed with his coat beside him.

54:01 Have a nice shower, Mr.

54:02 Nile? Who the hell are you and how'd you get in? I work for Mr. Corio.

54:05 He phoned me and said he was going to be in town and told me to look you up. Said I should take really good care of you.

54:10 Yeah, I get it.

54:11 Just in case I get any funny ideas about running out before I do my job.

54:16 Well, gee, I wouldn't know, Mr.

54:17 Nile.

54:18 Yeah.

54:19 I just want to wish you success in your work. Better put some clothes on. Don't want to catch cold.

54:27 Corio wasn't about to miss any angles. He had me pinned down, and now I knew it. Well, all right, no escape. So I figure, why prolong the inevitable?

54:38 A desk?

54:39 I want to rent a car. Yeah, yeah, I know it's.

54:43 New Year's Eve. No, I don't want a chauffeured limousine.

54:47 Is that all you can do?

54:50 Okay, never mind. Well, I tried.

54:54 Cory, you must know I couldn't nail Adler the first night I'm in town. It's going to take study and research. And the time for that is after January the 1st, 1940, which is now only about seven hours away. And this is Graham McNamee reminding you once again that the University of Southern California has defeated Tennessee 14 to nothing for their second consecutive victory here in the Rose.

55:35 Bowl.

55:35 Today was Tuesday. I've been 10 hours without a drink, five days without a game. At this rate, I could become a monk. I get up and I walk down to the lobby feeling shaky and sick and alcohol has nothing.

55:45 To do with it. It's the job I'm going to have to do.

55:49 It's the second day of the year, 1940, and Los Angeles is going about its business again. The morning is bright, and I decide to walk until I feel better, then find a car rental agency and get on about my business. But after walking about two blocks, I decide I'm not going to feel any better walking, so I buy a paper and I turn to the ad section and I find a rented car agency nearby. In a few minutes, I'm driving a new gray Chevy, and in due time, with the help of a city map, I'm on West Pico Boulevard. Traffic is fast and heavy, and the first time I sail right past number 311, it's an ordinary office building just like hundreds of others. I go around the block, and I find a place to park. Ordinarily,

56:30 a killer wouldn't show his face in the same building where his victim works, but I still don't think of myself as a killer. And besides, I have to get some idea of the layout of his office. The building directory lists the Adler Importing Company on the second floor. It's not such an impressive building. The stairway runs up four or five flights, with a skylight at the top, fire escape in the rear. Nice to know if you have to make an exit in a hurry. And there, in black lettering, on an opaque glass door, is the Adler Importing Company.

57:03 That's funny.

57:07 Ten past ten and his office is still locked. And then I remember what Corio said. The importing company is on the affront. Maybe Adler never uses the office. I'm tempted to pick the lack, but then I figure I've already taken enough of a chance being seen. Next stop, 92 Mariposa Canyon Road. Adler's house is set back for the road and screened by trees and shrubbery, so that it's impossible to tell if anyone's at home unless you drive down the driveway, which I wasn't about to do. Instead, I used the old burglar's trick. At the nearest payphone, I look up Adler's.

57:45 Number, and I ring the house. Hello? Hello, is Mr. Adler there?

57:53 Who is this calling?

57:54 Well, this is Mr. Sullivan. I had a 10 o'clock appointment with him this morning at his office. Is something wrong?

58:01 Then you haven't heard?

58:02 Beg pardon? Heard what?

58:04 This is Marna Adler, Mr.

58:05 Sullivan.

58:06 My father is dead.

58:08 What did you say? He's dead?

58:11 The announcement will be in the papers tonight.

58:13 Look, Miss Adler, I'm... I'm sure you understand.

58:16 I can't talk anymore.

58:18 Goodbye.

58:20 For a minute, I stand there with the receiver to my ear until my head stops spinning.

58:24 Adler is dead.

58:25 He's already dead without my having to bump him off. I'm off the case and I'm off the hook. Corio gets what he wanted and I don't have Adler on my conscience. The Chevy has a radio. On the way back downtown, I find a station with the noon news.

58:42 KULOVA, full of a watch time. And here's the new edition of KMTR News. The body of Los Angeles millionaire Simon Adler was pulled from the ocean off Catalina Island early today after the Adler cruiser exploded off Cherry Point. Adler's companion at the time of the explosion has not been located. Cause of the blast is under investigation. The Los Angeles board of equalization was.

59:05 turned....

59:07 The Afternoon Herald Express has the full story. Adler and a business acquaintance had seen the new year in at Adler's Catalina Hideaway. When they started back for the mainland, the gas tank blew up. The Coast Guard found Adler's body, but the other guy, someone named McIntyre, is still missing. I could just visualize how this story would read to Corio back in Chicago, and what he'd think I'd done...

59:29 I stayed in my room for supper to take the call I was sure would come.

59:32 And I didn't have long to wait.

59:33 Hello?

59:39 Harry? Right. Is that you, Corio? Right.

59:43 Yeah, I was expecting your call.

59:45 I understand that a mutual friend of ours has had a tragic accident, Harry.

59:50 Is this true?

59:51 Oh, you're one of the mourners, are you?

59:53 You might say that.

59:55 It was very sudden, wasn't it?

59:57 I thought you'd be, uh... Oh, I am, Harry. Well, Happy New Year, Corio.

1:00:04 Happy New Year, Harry.

1:00:05 Oh, and Harry. Yeah? Maybe your luck is changing. Good night.

1:00:17 I lay back on the bed and for the first time enjoyed the best the Biltmore had to offer. Outside the window, searchlights swayed across the sky for some movie premiere. And I felt free for the first time since I got in hock at choreos. It was the beginning of a new year, a whole new decade.

1:00:34 The 40s. Maybe my luck was changing. KECA Los Angeles. It's 10 p.m. And a good, good evening, everyone. This is your Richfield Report.

1:00:52 Funeral services will be held Wednesday at Forest Lawn for Simon Adler, millionaire importer who was killed yesterday when his motorboat exploded as he and Elliot.

1:00:59 McIntyre were returning from Catalina Island.

1:01:02 Investigators studying the mysterious explosion... Forest Lawn is a green oasis at the edge of Los Angeles, convenient to the people who die in Burbank, Glendale, and Pasadena. Why did I attend the funeral? Well, I guess I wanted to verify that Adler was dead, and this chapter of my life was closed. I couldn't get into the chapel, the service was for the family only. So I waited outside.

1:01:28 And as the mourners filed out of the old stone building, I found myself looking for the girl I'd talked to on the phone.

1:01:35 Marna, Adler's daughter.

1:01:38 Only one woman in the group fitted my mental picture ever, a slender girl in a dark blue dress, matching jacket and hat. Everyone was crowding around her, consoling her. On the way to the gravesite, I kept far back, watching. There was only one other witness who hung back from the mourners. I got the feeling he was watching me, but I figured it was a cemetery employee and I forgot all about it. When it was all over, the girl in the dark blue was picked up by a driver and a late model Lincoln Zephyr. Then I got in the Chevy and followed him. Sure enough, we wound up at 92 Mariposa Canyon Road. I sat in the car out of sight of the house, smoking and thinking.

1:02:16 An L.A.

1:02:16 Police car cruised by twice while I was there, and the cops took a long look.

1:02:20 At me the second time.

1:02:21 So I figured I wasn't too welcome in the neighborhood and was just about ready to start the motor and leave when suddenly the door on my side of the car jerked open. It was the driver of the Lincoln.

1:02:31 Okay, get out.

1:02:32 Okay, wait a minute.

1:02:33 Out!

1:02:33 Show me your badge and I'll get out.

1:02:34 I don't need a badge.

1:02:36 Yeah, I suppose you've got a license to carry that gun.

1:02:39 You want a badge?

1:02:40 You want a license? There's just no satisfying you, is there?

1:02:43 Now, get out! I'm getting, I'm getting. Hand me your car keys. Here.

1:02:48 Catch.

1:02:51 Now, that wasn't so bright, was it?

1:02:53 Pick them up carefully. Okay.

1:02:59 I must say, this is a shabby way to treat a businessman.

1:03:02 What kind of business?

1:03:03 I don't think that's any of your affair. Look, when you put that thing away, guns make me nervous, especially when they're pointed at me.

1:03:09 Then state your business.

1:03:11 That was between Mr. Adler and me.

1:03:13 What's your name?

1:03:14 Sullivan. And I'm not in the habit of being interrogated by a... What are you, a chauffeur, a bodyguard?

1:03:20 I'm whatever the family needs me to be.

1:03:22 What are you doing out here?

1:03:23 I was preparing to go up to the house and see if I could offer Miss Adler my condolences.

1:03:28 Is that why you were at Forest Lawn?

1:03:30 Oh, you saw me at the funeral.

1:03:31 You weren't at the funeral. It was a private service. You hung around out by the grave, and then you followed us home.

1:03:37 Now, what do you want, Mr.

1:03:38 Sullivan? Carl?

1:03:41 Carl, did I hear you say Mr.

1:03:43 Sullivan?

1:03:44 She stood at the entrance to the driveway, only now she wasn't wearing a hat, and her red hair hung down around her shoulders.

1:03:51 I didn't want to alarm you, Miss Adler, but this man followed us home from the cemetery and was parked in front of the house.

1:03:57 Mr.

1:03:57 Sullivan?

1:03:58 That's right.

1:03:59 I'm Minor Adler. Please forgive Carl. He's on edge. We all are.

1:04:03 I understand. Then you remember my phoning yesterday.

1:04:07 Of course.

1:04:08 Carl, put that ugly gun away. Get it out of my sight.

1:04:11 I'm sorry, ma'am.

1:04:12 That will be all, Carl.

1:04:13 Yes, ma'am. Uh, Carl, my, uh, car keys?

1:04:18 Yeah, here you go. Carl! Never mind, Miss Dan.

1:04:23 Just a little game we've been playing.

1:04:26 See you around, Carl.

1:04:28 I hate ugliness.

1:04:29 I'll bet you do.

1:04:30 You knew my father.

1:04:31 Not well.

1:04:33 If you came to pay your respects, I appreciate it. But I'm not going to be home.

1:04:37 Oh?

1:04:38 I'm an unconventional person, Mr.

1:04:39 Sullivan.

1:04:41 I'm going to let my soul start healing.

1:04:43 That sounds like a good idea.

1:04:45 My father's death has torn my soul. There's only one place on this earth where it can start to heal.

1:04:50 Is that so?

1:04:52 Why don't you come with me? You look as if you've known the world too well, Mr.

1:04:56 Sullivan.

1:04:57 I know it pretty well, yes.

1:04:59 Come on.

1:05:02 My car is.

1:05:03 Take mine. It's right up the driveway.

1:05:06 Miss Adler.

1:05:07 My name is Marna. Call me that. What's your first name?

1:05:11 It's Harry. Say, where are we going?

1:05:15 We're going to bathe, Harry.

1:05:16 Did you say bathe?

1:05:20 We're going to bathe our souls together. We're going to cleanse out the ugliness. Please, Harry, you drive. I've been holding back the tears. I think they're going to come.

1:05:42 I guide Barna's big car down from the Hollywood Hills and into the streets of Los Angeles while she cries silently at my side.

1:05:49 The only thing she.

1:05:49 Tells me is where and when to turn, but eventually, and all too soon, the ride is over. We pull up beside a big white drum-shaped building with a big sign that says Miracle Tabernacle in blue neon. I'm not sure if it's a good sign, but I'm sure it's a good sign. Marna dabs at her face, runs a comb through her long red hair, and climbs out of the car.

1:06:07 Come on, Harry.

1:06:08 What is this place?

1:06:10 You'll understand.

1:06:11 Come on.

1:06:11 Give me your hand.

1:06:13 She leads me through a big arched entrance, through a tall pair of French doors, and into a big theater auditorium in white trimmed with gold. The place is jammed with people and sweat rises like steam in the air. There are terribly fat, terribly thin, terribly crippled people in wheelchairs, on crutches, in canes, even on stretchers. But the center of interest, from the second you walk in, is the elevated pulpit downstage center. Spotlights dazzle on a woman in a long white gown, her arms spread like wings, her blonde hair wound around her head in braids, and her voice holding the whole assembly in its spell.

1:06:52 Into this auditorium, here and now, and send his healing powers through the air like electricity.

1:06:57 Is this what you meant by bathing our souls?

1:06:59 Shh, listen to her.

1:07:02 Who has the faith to know that he or.

1:07:06 She will be healed?

1:07:07 You come here often?

1:07:08 Oh, yes, all the time. Haven't you heard her on the radio?

1:07:12 No, I think I missed her. I generally listen to Amos and Andy.

1:07:16 Shh.

1:07:16 How much money do.

1:07:17 You have with you?

1:07:17 I don't know.

1:07:18 Give, Harry.

1:07:19 All right, just a second.

1:07:20 Give.

1:07:20 I'm getting my wallet out.

1:07:21 How about $ 100?

1:07:21 $ 100?

1:07:21 Oh, the spirit has touched you.

1:07:22 Harry, I love you. I really do.

1:07:38 Do you believe the Lord can hear you?

1:07:40 Don't you feel simply bathed in the spirit?

1:07:42 Oh, God bless you, my dear.

1:07:44 Rise up out of that wheelchair and walk over here to me.

1:07:48 Rise up. Come on.

1:07:50 Walk.

1:08:00 When the performance ends, Sister Grace makes her exit to the wings and Marna grabs my hand and we run out a side door and down a long hallway until we get to a door marked private. Is this the sacred dressing room?

1:08:14 She'll let us in. Sister Grace, it's Marna. It is you, isn't it, dear? I've brought someone new.

1:08:23 Welcome, brother.

1:08:24 Come in.

1:08:27 Oh, my poor child.

1:08:29 I know.

1:08:30 They told me.

1:08:31 But he's in a far better world now. You must believe that.

1:08:34 Oh, I do, Sister Grace.

1:08:36 A world without pain, without hunger, without worry.

1:08:40 Yes, I know. Oh, Sister Grace, this is a friend of my father's, Mr.

1:08:44 Sullivan. How good of you to attend Sister Marna in her hour of travail.

1:08:49 It's my pleasure, Sister.

1:08:52 Now will you excuse me for just a moment? I must change out of these ceremonial robes. I'll be back in just a moment.

1:09:01 Oh, isn't she inspiring?

1:09:03 Yeah, I guess you'd say that, yeah.

1:09:05 I'll tell her of your generous gift, Harry.

1:09:07 It was worth it, believe me.

1:09:09 Worth it?

1:09:10 Never mind. I guess anyone can get carried away.

1:09:13 I don't think I understand.

1:09:15 Well, out in the auditorium, when I gave that hundred, you remember what you did? You kissed me.

1:09:22 And you liked that?

1:09:23 I liked it, yeah.

1:09:25 I told you I'm an unconventional person. I do what I feel.

1:09:29 Yeah, well, I think that's fine. Very healthy. Anytime you feel like doing what you feel, just feel free.

1:09:37 Thank you.

1:09:39 Say, do you feel like having something to eat?

1:09:41 Oh, no.

1:09:42 Thanks, but not now. Sister Grace will be back in a minute.

1:09:45 There's someone out in the hall.

1:09:47 Do we let them in?

1:09:48 Of course.

1:09:49 Why not?

1:09:52 If you're looking for Sister Grace, she's changing. She'll be right out.

1:09:56 I must see her.

1:09:57 Yeah, well, I.

1:09:59 Come in, brother.

1:09:59 Yeah, come in, brother. Thank you.

1:10:04 That was just a figure of speech about seeing her. Actually, I can't see anything.

1:10:10 Oh, well, that's tough. How did it happen?

1:10:12 I was born blind.

1:10:14 Come over here and sit down.

1:10:15 There you go.

1:10:17 Thank you. You're very kind.

1:10:18 Thank you.

1:10:20 You know, I've listened to Sister Grace and the Miracle Tabernacle on the radio for years, but this is the first time I've ever come here. My name is Sylvester.

1:10:29 Hi, Sylvester.

1:10:31 How do you do?

1:10:31 I'm Harry, and this is Marna.

1:10:33 Hello.

1:10:34 Well, two young people. How lovely and charming.

1:10:37 Hey, you ought to see her, Sylvester. She is lovely.

1:10:40 Well, in my own way, I do see her. I see the important part of people without eyes.

1:10:46 That's beautiful.

1:10:48 Now we can have our little chat.

1:10:51 Oh, and whom do we have here?

1:10:53 Sister Grace, this is Sylvester. He's listened to your broadcasts for years, and he's here to see you with his heart.

1:11:00 I understand. Welcome, Brother Sylvester.

1:11:04 It is you, isn't it, Sister Grace? God bless you.

1:11:07 Oh, he does, my friend.

1:11:09 Indeed, he does.

1:11:11 Tell me, what can I do for you?

1:11:13 Well, worldly goods have I none, Sister Grace.

1:11:16 I understand.

1:11:17 We have a wonderful kitchen and dining hall in the basement, Brother Sylvester. We even have a small men's dormitory.

1:11:24 Will you partake?

1:11:25 God bless you, Sister Grace, but I can't pay you.

1:11:28 The Lord pays me handsomely, Brother. Marna, will you guide our friend downstairs, have him registered and given meal tickets, and see that he's assigned a bed?

1:11:37 Of course.

1:11:38 Come along, Brother.

1:11:40 Thank you. I don't know how to thank you.

1:11:47 You see, we don't.

1:11:48 Ask a man's religion here. We only ask what he needs, and then we give him all we can. The only thing we ask is that he be honest with us.

1:11:58 Sounds fair enough.

1:11:59 But you haven't been quite honest, have you?

1:12:01 I said again? Who are you?

1:12:02 What's the matter?

1:12:03 Don't you like the color of my money, sister?

1:12:05 Please don't smoke in here. No, the color of your money doesn't concern me in the least. But when a man uses an assumed name, he is being dishonest. I ask you again, who are you?

1:12:16 What makes you think I'm using an assumed name?

1:12:18 If you were in the tabernacle for this afternoon's service, you've witnessed that I have certain powers.

1:12:22 Oh, you read minds, is that it?

1:12:24 I read hearts.

1:12:25 Oh, okay, hearts.

1:12:27 You are not only deceiving Sister Marna. You have entered this tabernacle under false pretenses. But I am willing to forgive all sinners. All you must do is admit your sins.

1:12:38 That'd take a long time, Sister Grace. Why don't we just leave it the way it is? I'm Harry Sullivan.

1:12:43 You are Harry Niles.

1:12:46 You're very good, Sister Grace. What else? Come on, you must have found out more than that.

1:12:50 I'm very disappointed. I had hoped you would volunteer.

1:12:54 Okay, I'm an escaped convict, no?

1:12:55 All right, I'm Clark Gable.

1:12:57 How about Rin Tin Tin?

1:12:58 I don't think Marna will be amused.

1:13:00 Look, lady, what have you got? A name. Harry Nile.

1:13:05 Why is that any more important to you than Harry Sullivan or Harry Smith or Harry Jones?

1:13:09 Because Harry Nile is hiding. Why are you hiding, Mr.

1:13:13 Nile?

1:13:14 You know, Sister... Suddenly, I don't feel like it's any of your business. If I'm going to confess anything to anybody, it'll be to Marna.

1:13:22 You won't be seeing Marna again, Mr.

1:13:24 Nile.

1:13:24 What's that supposed to mean?

1:13:25 Simply that. When Marna learns of your deceit, she won't care to see you again.

1:13:30 And you'll take care of that.

1:13:31 I think this interview has gone on long enough. You will be welcome in Miracle Tabernacle when you have repented, Mr.

1:13:37 Nile.

1:13:38 And not before.

1:13:39 Gotcha.

1:13:40 And now, if you'll tell me how to get downstairs, I'll find Marna and get her out of.

1:13:43 Marna will be taken care of by one of us, Mr.

1:13:45 Nile.

1:13:46 Your responsibility, where she is concerned, is ended.

1:13:50 Not until she ends it, sister. I try not to be superstitious, but somehow the evangelist has gotten to me, and there's a spooky feeling in my head that maybe she knows more than she's saying. I hurry down the hall and find the stairway and head downstairs, looking for Marna. I find the soup kitchen and the dormitory, but she's not there. I run back up and into the main auditorium, but there's only a janitor sweeping out. And then I remember I've got the keys to her car in my pocket.

1:14:19 She can't get away without me. I storm out the front through the French doors and then the arches, and then I spot her, sitting in the Lincoln with both hands on the steering wheel, staring straight ahead. I'll run a lot better with these keys.

1:14:35 Who are you, Mr.

1:14:37 Nile?

1:14:38 Sister Grace must have her own telegraph system.

1:14:41 Carl checked on you through the car rental agency and phoned the Tabernacle.

1:14:45 If I could sit down in the car, I'd explain it. Thank you.

1:14:55 Okay, I dreamed up the name of Sullivan on the spur of the moment. Actually, it's a name I use a lot, as an alias.

1:14:59 An alias?

1:15:00 I'm a private investigator, Marna, from Chicago. And I came out here to.

1:15:04 Yes?

1:15:05 Yes.

1:15:06 To investigate your father.

1:15:08 Investigate him?

1:15:10 Why?

1:15:10 Oh, it had to do with his company. I can't go into detail. Anyway, it's all over now. When you told me he was dead, that closed the case.

1:15:19 Believe me.

1:15:20 I told Mr. Sullivan he was dead.

1:15:22 Look, I don't blame you for being sore at me. When I phoned, it was just to find out where he was. I didn't expect anyone to... I didn't think I'd ever meet you or get to know you.

1:15:34 What else don't I know about you? Who hired you to spy on my father?

1:15:38 You know I can't divulge a client's name.

1:15:40 Thanks for being so upright.

1:15:41 Look, it doesn't matter now. The case is closed. My client isn't interested anymore. I'm not working for him anymore.

1:15:47 Believe me.

1:15:49 You don't believe me. Well, why should you? I lied about my name, lied about what I was doing here. Look, I want to tell you everything. I mean everything.

1:15:59 Then why don't you? Why don't you do what you feel?

1:16:03 I think I will.

1:16:09 An hour ago, you kissed Harry Sullivan. Now you kissed Harry Nile.

1:16:14 And I meant it.

1:16:16 I want you to be honest with me, Harry.

1:16:19 All right. Let's drive. You drive. I'll talk.

1:16:24 All right.

1:16:25 Talk to me.

1:16:26 Well.

1:16:27 I already told you I'm an investigator, and my client in Chicago wanted some information about your father's business.

1:16:32 Did you give him the information?

1:16:33 How could I? I got in town New Year's Eve, and the next day your dad had his accident.

1:16:37 Look, I'm off the case. There is no more case.

1:16:40 Your client in Chicago, why was he interested in my father?

1:16:42 He was afraid of your father, Marta.

1:16:44 Afraid?

1:16:45 What kind of business do you think he was in?

1:16:48 I don't know.

1:16:48 You tell me.

1:16:49 Well, it wasn't the import business. You mean you didn't know?

1:16:52 Tell me.

1:16:53 It was the movie business. He owned certain pictures and he controlled a lot of theaters.

1:16:58 Why would that have anything to do with a man in Chicago?

1:17:01 The man was afraid your father was going to try to take over the Chicago movie business like he was doing in L.A.

1:17:06 So we hired you to come out here and stop him?

1:17:08 Yeah, more or less.

1:17:10 And you'd actually do that?

1:17:11 I didn't do it. I didn't do anything.

1:17:14 Because you didn't have to. He was already dead. I don't like you anymore, Harry Nile.

1:17:20 Mike.

1:17:20 Client owns a gambling outfit. I had a run of rotten luck and I wound up owing him a lot more than I could pay. My client isn't a very nice man. It was either come out here and do something very bad or get killed.

1:17:32 Kill or be killed?

1:17:33 That's about it. Look, Marna, I.

1:17:36 You must have done this before as a private detective.

1:17:39 No.

1:17:41 It doesn't really matter. I don't think I could ever believe anything you say from now on.

1:17:47 We made the rest of the trip in silence. When we got back to the Adler house on Mariposa Canyon Road, Marna stopped the car outside my Chevy. There were no goodbyes. She just sat there waiting for me to get out.

1:17:59 So I did.

1:17:59 The lights were coming on as I headed back toward the hotel. Suddenly I hated L.A., hated Corio, hated Adler, hated myself for ever getting suckered into this whole mess. So I turned on the car radio to take my mind off my troubles.

1:18:19 We interrupt this broadcast for a local news bulletin from the KMTR newsroom. Los Angeles police have announced a citywide search for a suspect in the death of millionaire Simon Adler, who died in the New Year's Day explosion of his cabin cruiser. It was the first indication that authorities believe foul play may have been connected with a fatality. Now we return you to the music of Larry Clinton coming to you from the embassy.