Broadway’s My Beat: The Amelia Lane Murder Case (EP5088)

0:03 THE END.

0:28 Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho. This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, we're going to bring you this week's episode of Broadway's My Beat. First, I want to encourage you, if you're enjoying the podcast, to please follow us using your favorite podcast software. And also, today's program is brought to you in part by the financial support of our listeners. You can support the show using the Zelle app. To send a donation to box13 at greatdetectives.net and also become one of our ongoing Patreon supporters for as little as $ 2 per month, go to patreon.greatdetectives.net.

1:12 But now, from November 1st, 1952, here is the Amelia Lane murder case.

1:33 Broadway's My Beat, from Times Square to Columbus Circle. The gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world.

1:43 Broadway's My Beat, with Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover.

2:02 The dawn mists of November are drifting, slow swirling, clinging to street lamp. And Broadway is stone and stillness, the desolate time. Night has slipped out of Broadway's fingers. And there's bewilderment now, the puzzled study of empty hands. And the dregs of night, the sleepwalkers, and pulling at their sleeves, solitude.

2:22 Run from it, beat on a door, find it closed, run again. And suddenly, between darkness and light, the roar of truck, the hurtle of morning newspapers to pavement.

2:31 And stop running. Give up. There's proof. They will come. Autumn dawn.

2:42 Five o'clock. And downtown and east from Broadway, the street lined with November trees, to the private library of the Bentley Foundation. where Detective Mugovan was, and a woman lying wounded against a litter of books.

2:53 When she got shot, she must have stumbled around, Danny, fallen against that book rack, knocked it over.

2:57 Who found her? Custodian.

2:59 Came in here with his mop and pail and dust rag, grabbed a dime out of the cash box and called it in.

3:03 It unsettled him, he says. Says he can't work a lick today. I told him I'd fix it with his boss. She's in bad shape, Mugovan. Have you... Yeah, I called for the ambulance, Danny. Be here any minute. Don't worry about it. Know who she is?

3:14 Yeah, Custodian filled me in. Amelia Lane. She was working here as a librarian when he got this job. Told me she was kind, thoughtful, never yelled at him once. Had a stretched ear sometimes, he said. Said the staff gave her a birthday party around six months ago, her 50th. Said the cake was chocolate with marshmallow frosting on the shape.

3:32 Of an open book. You and the custodian got along real well, huh?

3:34 Yeah, a nice guy, Danny. He was real sorry about Miss Lane. He said people had to die this way.

3:39 It shouldn't be Miss Lane. She's not dead. Well, he told me she would be.

3:43 Said he just had a feeling because she was such a nice lady, a good lady. He said good people like Miss Lane don't happen often, don't last when they do.

3:52 Ambulance, then. Yeah, go open the door for them. Danny? Hi, Gino. Come on in.

4:10 Your midday snack, Danny. Wax and cream cheese on toasted bagels.

4:16 I told you I didn't want it toasted.

4:17 What do you know about fancy lox and cream cheese eating?

4:21 Cold slaw?

4:23 Coffee?

4:24 Or Tootsie Roll?

4:25 Tootsie Roll?

4:26 I thought it would be nice.

4:29 Thanks, Gino. What else have you got?

4:31 The cream and sugar's all ready.

4:33 No, I mean about work.

4:35 Oh.

4:35 Well?

4:36 I got it right here. In the case of Amelia Lane, wounded librarian. She was shot by a. 25 caliber weapon held at close range at about 11 last night. According to Dr. Sinsky, and as he put it, life and death are a thread.

4:51 Go on.

4:52 Amelia Lane has been a librarian for the Bentley Foundation for 12 years.

4:56 A spinster. Lives alone. Has a room at the Mall and Hotel for Women on Upper Broadway.

5:01 What else?

5:02 From friends and acquaintances questioned at said hotel, Miss Lane is a woman of settled disposition.

5:07 And ready with a kind word to who needs it.

5:10 And?

5:11 And is this. Nothing of note found in her belongings.

5:14 She was wearing a pin with Greek letters on it, fraternity or sorority, and a cloth flower corsage on a simple frock as befitted one of her stations.

5:23 Yeah, I saw all that.

5:25 Our boys found this, however, Danny.

5:28 A list of those who withdrew or returned books to the foundation yesterday.

5:32 Six names.

5:33 Give the top three to Muggerman, Gino. Tell him to check them out. I'll take the others.

5:37 That's it, Danny.

5:38 So eat already.

5:43 Then squad car through November City, and the swift images scattered in its wake. The girl on the safety island who held up a thumb leaned her smile close to you when.

5:52 You stopped for the traffic light... Girl in.

5:55 Off-shoulder summer dress and concession to autumn, fur neckpiece loose-draped about her throat. Lost then in quick ricochet of sunlight off chrome as light changed as you moved away. Other images, hurry and ebb of crowd. The seller of chestnuts who scurried his cart out of your path. And finally, the side street. The first name on the list, Abby Forrest.

6:23 You look, I don't know, startled. Is that it?

6:26 Oh, Miss Forrest, I.

6:27 It's how young I am, isn't it, that brought that look to your face? How young I am in this fuzzy cardigan, the bare legs and the bobby socks and the saddle shoes. That's what did it to you, wasn't it?

6:38 A woman was shot yesterday. Amelia Lane, librarian at the Bentley Foundation.

6:42 I'm 17. I think you should know that.

6:44 You brought some books back to the Bentley Foundation yesterday.

6:48 Think of it.

6:48 17.

6:48 That is old enough to understand things. Understand why you looked at me like that. And why you're here. You think I shot that old lady?

6:58 When were you there? When did you check those books in? I'll try again.

7:03 You think I shot that old lady?

7:04 Just tell me when you were there.

7:07 Between Home Economics 1A and Elementary Psychology. I have these two hours off from the university. Three days a week. From 11 to 1. All to myself. And think how I used them. At Bentley Foundation. Poking into dusty old tomes. And I'm just a freshman.

7:24 You were there between 11 and 1?

7:25 Uh-huh.

7:26 And Miss Lane was very helpful and asked how things were going for me. And I told her soon, soon I'd hold out my hand and there would be the rich intellectual to kiss it and ring it and ask for it in marriage. And she blushed and I laughed out loud and she shushed me. Poor little old lady. If you see her, tell her I said that. Can you remember? Or shall I write it down for you?

7:50 You'll remember it.

7:52 You look very intellectual.

8:06 Dr.

8:07 Levering?

8:08 Yes?

8:08 I'm from the police. Danny Clover. I'd like to talk to you. I've only this brief time till my next class. The student papers to go over. It's about Amelia Lane. Oh, I see. Please come in. That chair, please.

8:26 The university knows that you've come to me about Miss Lane?

8:30 I don't think so. I asked some of the students outside. One of them told me you were here in your office.

8:34 Permit me gratitude for your discretion. You will understand, of course, how quickly scandal blossoms and flourishes at a university. If you had mentioned me in the same breath with Amelia Lane, the notoriety... I didn't. Let's let it go at that, huh, Dr.

8:49 Levering?

8:49 Your pardon. What about Amelia brought you to me? You know she was shot. You know she's dying. I read of it this morning. Yeah?

8:59 It is difficult for me to muster a deep sorrow for Amelia.

9:04 Why? I have my own, my private grief.

9:08 Oh?

9:08 My wife, a wife of 30 years, Mrs. Levering, died of a lingering illness less than a month ago.

9:16 I am a widower. I am alone.

9:19 And I have only this for silence. The romance languages I teach. The compassion of my students when the grief overcomes me. Let's not dwell on it, shall we?

9:31 All right.

9:33 I have known Amelia since we were students together at Teachers College. That was many years ago. She was a plain girl then, but sensitive. We went our separate ways. I got my doctorate here in the romance languages, and at the Bentley Foundation 12 years ago, I found her again. And she was still quite plain. and older, and more sensitive, and more helpful than I had remembered her. Obscure reference material was always at the very tip of her tongue.

10:01 That is Amelia. What time were you at the library yesterday, Dr.

10:04 Levering?

10:05 Let me think. Four in the afternoon, right after my last class. Strange. What is? Simply this.

10:14 Amelia, plain, colorless. How did she incite so much passion and violence... That someone tried.

10:20 To kill her. Strange.

10:25 Then the man moved away from me. Took a stance directly under a diploma, turned, looked at me. He formed a smile, raised his hand slightly, dropped them. As if the school bell had suddenly rung in the middle of something not too important. Class was over, and I was dismissed. Third name on the list, Michael Brady, address Greenwich Village.

10:52 One flight up and four doors down through a corridor embellished by art students and a chap with a red crayon pencil.

11:01 Hi.

11:05 Hello.

11:06 Is your name Michael Brady? That's right. Won't you sit down? I'm glad you came.

11:14 Oh?

11:15 Yes, I've been working. I needed a break. Rather, I needed an excuse for a break. I see. My name's Danny Clover. I'm from the police. Is there something I might do for you? It's about a woman named Amelia Lane. About her? She was shot late last night. Is she dead?

11:34 No.

11:35 Please take me to her. You were at the library yesterday. Please, it's so important that I go to her. All right, let's go. It looks cold out. Yeah, it is.

11:45 I'd better put on a jacket. She's not going to die, is she? We mustn't let that happen. We must do everything we can.

11:53 Everything's being done. That's very good. I need her badly.

12:00 I tell you this because it's very true. Yesterday, when I saw her... What time was this? In the afternoon, about four. When I saw her then, I told her just what I'm telling you.

12:13 It would be pretty.

12:16 Melancholy if anything happened to her.

12:17 How?

12:18 Yes.

12:20 You see, I'm at the university. I met Miss Lane during summer session. I was doing a paper, so I went to Bentley. She was very kind to me.

12:29 Helpful. Nothing must happen to her. The car's right over there.

12:35 So much she knew. Where knowledge was. Beautiful things in books.

12:41 Are you in love with Miss Lane? I love her. She is a person to love, you know. No, I mean... She calls me Michael. And to me, she's Miss Lane. Get in. Mr. Clover. Yes?

12:59 Once I told her I loved her in a way I couldn't explain. She put her finger to my lips.

13:05 How old are you, Michael? Eighteen. Please, let's hurry.

13:10 No!

13:23 Room, is it? Just down the hall.

13:26 When she gets better and you can get to know her and see what kind of a person she is, you'll see what I mean.

13:30 In here.

13:32 Hello, Danny.

13:33 How is she, Dr. Sinsky? In a gentle delirium.

13:38 Where is she?

13:41 Where? She's been saying that for the last hour, Danny. Is that any names? No, just one, Miss Lane. It's Michael, Miss Lane. How do you feel? Michael....

13:56 I told Mr. Clover that you must have the best of care. Wait a minute, son. This boy is a relative, Danny?

14:06 A friend. Michael Brady. Miss Lane is dead, Michael. Oh. I'll miss her dreadfully.

14:30 You are listening to Broadway's My Beat, written by Morton Fine and David Friedkin, and starring Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover. This Tuesday night, starting at 8 p.m. New York time, CBS Radio stops the entertainment in its tracks and begins the biggest election night reporting job in history. Make CBS Radio your election headquarters to receive up to the second all the color, all the trends, all the mounting totals. CBS Radio's Great Conventions reporting squad will be on the job from the initial returns until the president-elect is elected. Remember, this Tuesday night, starting at 8 p.m.

15:04 New York time, you have a date with history at CBS Radio Election Headquarters.

15:19 At the touch of November evening, Broadway picks up the tempo. The daydreams made at lunch hour were about nighttime, and the time is starting to happen. This way, run up the steps from the subway, down the street, grab a partner, join the dance, and the riot happens. You play musical doorways against the skirt of laughter and trumpet until somehow you lose. Someone took your place, and you're all alone.

15:44 So light the cigarette, take the ten minutes for coffee, try all over again. And the reflections of evening had died down the street from where I was. The cube of silence reserved for hospital zone. And within its corridors, a boy and Detective Muggerman.

16:04 You all okay, Michael? I'd like to get some air. Oh, sure. Let's go out here in the balcony. It's pretty chilly. I'm not cold. Michael? Yes, Mr. Clover? Michael, did you kill Miss Laneford?

16:21 You were right there when she died. You saw what happened. She was trying to talk to me, and she died.

16:27 No, Lieutenant doesn't mean that, Michael. He means that you shoot her yesterday.

16:32 I understand why you have to ask me that, but you must look at it from my point of view.

16:36 All right.

16:37 It's very simple. It's terrible she's dead. From my point of view, I mean. I'd be awfully stupid to do anything to hurt myself, wouldn't I?

16:47 I mean... Yeah. Let's get with it, Sonny. What do you mean? She's dead, and I'm very unhappy.

16:54 Sure.

16:55 Let's talk a little bit more about her, shall we? I'd like to. Were there any times when you were alone with her, away from the library, I mean? Yes, often. Well, tell me about them, Michael.

17:07 Often, when my class is permitted, I'd wait for her in front of her apartment.

17:11 Did you ever meet her inside, Sonny? Certainly not. Go on, Michael.

17:16 I'd meet her. I'd walk with her. When it was fine, I'd walk with her all the way to the library. There was so much to see, to talk about.

17:26 Much to... You say you're a college boy, Mike?

17:29 Yes.

17:29 What college?

17:31 Well.

17:31 What college, Michael? You see... You ever been to a doctor? Not if I don't want to. You pretend a lot, don't you, Michael? Sometimes. Well... Yes. It's difficult to know sometimes.

17:49 Take it easy, Michael. This is happening, though. Miss Lane is dead. Later, though, much later. I need that time. Much later, I'll wait for her, and we'll walk. The things we planned.

18:05 What things?

18:06 She talked about Europe to me and said the names to me.

18:11 Seville, Venice. So I went and got the tickets. What?

18:16 Yes.

18:17 That travel agency.

18:19 You know the one. The big one in the white building. 43rd Street. I got the tickets. She told me they were there for me to get them, and I did. Several days ago. I got them, and I gave them to her. But she never mentioned anything to me again. About the places.

18:39 Do you think he's dreaming this one, too, Dan? I'm going to find out. Yeah, sure.

18:45 I'll introduce Michael to Dr.

18:46 Sinsky. Good night, Michael. Good night, Mr. Clover.

19:05 And that does it, doesn't it, Miss Lawton? Your tickets, your reservations, your pension in Firenze.

19:13 Pardon me.

19:14 I'll be disengaged in a.

19:15 Moment, sir. It's all right. Go ahead.

19:17 Thank you. Italy will ravish you this time of year, Miss Lawton. It's so off-season. Well, arrivederci, Miss Lawton. Buona fortuna and a jolly south wind to you. That was Miss Tracy Lawton of the theater. Have you ever seen her on the stage?

19:38 No.

19:39 Sensible man. I sold her Florence, you know. She tried vainly to hold out for Rome. I persuaded her, Florence. Too competitive in Rome for a no-talent like me. Miss Tracy.

19:52 Doesn't interest you, does it?

19:53 No.

19:54 Tell me what does. I'll just stand here, toss in suggestions from time to time. For your sort, permit me, I suggest Mozambique.

20:04 Forget it. I'm from the police.

20:06 You say it in a tone that implies you're not planning an excursion.

20:09 A boy was in here a couple of days ago. He picked up some tickets for a Miss Amelia Lane.

20:14 Oh, I remember him well. He asked for a travel poster for his room. The Athens one. I gave him Athens.

20:20 Amelia Lane. Do you remember her?

20:23 She's dead, you know. Murdered, I read.

20:25 Yes, I know.

20:27 How imbecilic of me. Of course, that's why you're here.

20:30 Now you know, too. Now maybe you'll tell me.

20:33 I helped her plan a honeymoon, you know.

20:36 And she was what? Fifty-ish? Go on.

20:38 An autumn honeymoon. And I have whispered all the right places. Paris, of course. Venice.

20:44 Seville.

20:45 And the latest French liner, which sails tomorrow evening. And she bought them all.

20:50 For two.

20:51 And paid cash. And had that boy pick it all up.

20:54 Was she with anyone when you... No, no, no.

20:56 She was quite alone. She said she wanted the thing to be an exciting surprise for her fiancé. A wedding gift. From her to him.

21:05 Did she tell you who she was going to marry?

21:07 I never really believed there was anyone. You think there was really someone to marry her? You know, I'm glad.

21:16 I'm glad she.

21:17 Had that dream. Even if it came true only partially.

21:24 Walk away from him and hit the night street. And consider the possibility that for Amelia Lane, librarian, it had been a dream. The voyage to the missed places... with lover and husband who never existed, except in pages of novel, except in youth memory, except in long-ago summer image. But the fact of violent death, that had happened to her, from a mixed-up boy, maybe. Maybe from the man ahead of you who lurched into alley, or from someone who sat quietly at a window and savored. And Night Street becomes the night room and frayed rug. and the sleep coughing of the tenant upstairs, and the radio loud across the area way. And finally, night is lost in river.

22:11 In the morning, make the coffee, read the headlines, go to work. In your office at police headquarters, Detective Muggerman has been waiting for you.

22:19 Morning, Danny.

22:20 Hi.

22:21 I got an extra container of coffee there on your desk. I thought maybe you wanted... I've been scrounging around, Danny. I think I.

22:27 You checked the people on that list of suspects?

22:29 Oh, nothing there, Danny.

22:30 Ran them all down.

22:32 Everyone with an alibi for the time of Miss Lane's murder. I checked, cross-checked, re-checked.

22:36 Nothing there. You were going to say something else. What? Well, I think I've got a lead. Mm-hmm.

22:41 Miss Lane's savings account. Two weeks ago, she had almost 12 grand saved up. A week ago, she had nothing.

22:46 She drew it all out.

22:47 I saw her signature on the withdrawal slip.

22:49 Anything else? Yeah. Yeah, this.

22:52 I've been carrying it around with me. This pin we found pinned to Miss Lane's dress... It's a frat pin. I begin running around to fraternities. It's very happy in fraternities this year.

23:01 Get off it, Muggerman.

23:03 Finally, I come up with an old frat boy, frat expert. He recognizes the pin.

23:07 He said it was a.

23:08 Local frat maybe 20, 25 years ago. Not social, cultural. Honorary students of culture. They're students of romance languages. Were you going to say something, Danny?

23:18 Yeah.

23:19 Thanks for the coffee, Muggerman. Yes, what? Oh. Hello, Dr. Levering. What is it? I want to talk to you. Yes? Can we go inside? I don't believe that.

23:54 Hey, Doc, come back and listen to this.

23:56 Let's go inside, Doctor. Hello, Miss Forrest.

24:00 Hiya. You dance? I've been having to dance all by myself. What'd you do that for? I asked you something.

24:09 What are you doing here, Miss Forrest?

24:12 You're a man really interested in me, aren't you? Last time I was cardigan. Is this a jazzier outfit?

24:18 You'd better leave, Miss Forrest.

24:20 Don't talk to me like that, Doc. I'm only 17 and I'll cry.

24:23 I asked you something. What are you doing here?

24:26 I'm just a freshman. The professor here knows all the answers. What am I doing here, Doc?

24:31 I'll tell you, Mr. Clover.

24:32 Mother was right. Men talk.

24:35 Abby, what were you going to tell me, Mr. Lavery? Miss Forrest is a student in one of my classes. I, uh... Go on, Doctor. We're going out.

24:45 That's right. I wrote Mother not to wait up.

24:49 Please, Abby.

24:51 Now, Mr.

24:51 Clover, what is it? Still the same thing, Doctor. Still about Amelia Lane.

24:56 If I had had anything to add to what I've already told you, I would have let you know.

25:01 Isn't he sweet, the way he talks?

25:04 I think you'd better go now, Abby.

25:06 Go? What do you mean?

25:07 I'll meet you later.

25:08 Meet you? Where?

25:09 Yes. I'll meet you.

25:12 Okay, Doc.

25:13 If you want to. I've got to call my roommate, though.

25:16 Call her from the outside.

25:17 She's probably just leaving, Doc. I better call her. I told her to bring my bags here after she packed them for me.

25:23 Hey, Doc!

25:25 What's with you?

25:26 We're not married yet.

25:27 You little fool!

25:29 You're talking to me, Doc.

25:31 You remember me?

25:33 Where were you going, Miss Forrest? I might be.

25:35 Changing my mind about it any minute.

25:37 Abby. I'm sorry, Abby.

25:42 Shoot.

25:44 See, Mr.

25:44 Clover?

25:45 He's got a lot of torch left under.

25:47 All that, Professor. You were going to get the captain to marry you on the boat?

25:52 Answer him, Doc. Yes.

25:54 Yes, that's right. Honeymoon in Paris, Venice, Seville?

25:58 Sure.

25:59 Been to them all, but not like this. I'm going to show Doc a time. I know places tourists don't go to.

26:05 What's wrong with it, Clover? I'm a widower. I'm lonely. This girl is youth. Make a judgment, Clover. Tell me I'm wrong. And I'll tell you, I don't care. The difficulty is, doctor, your life's not your own anymore. What are you talking about? You killed Amelia Lane. Now your life's public property.

26:24 You did that, doctor?

26:24 It'll be all right, Abby.

26:26 Not if you killed her, it won't.

26:28 Mr. Clover. Miss Lane thought you were going to marry her, doctor. Yes. Yes, she did.

26:36 I better go home.

26:36 Oh, please, Abby.

26:38 Get away from me.

26:38 No, no, you don't understand.

26:40 Get away from me. Get over there. Over there, doctor. What are you going to tell me? Tell me, and I'm getting out of here.

26:48 Just that I'm sorry and ridiculous. You see, Mr. Clover, that child was the reason.

26:57 Amelia and I were going to marry, then last week, Abby came to my office for some help with her studies. It was a quiet autumn evening, and she curled up in the big chair, and everything seemed far away.

27:14 And Abby is very beautiful, you know.

27:19 Then when Amelia gave me the tickets for our honeymoon.

27:23 Suddenly I thought it would be wonderful to be in Seville with somebody young and lovely.

27:28 Abby.

27:31 So I did two ridiculous things. I asked Abby to go with me. She said she would. Then I went to Amelia.

27:42 Listen, Mr.

27:42 Clore.

27:43 I had to kill her. Her tickets, her money. I needed them. Abby, if I've hurt you.

27:50 Forget it, Doc.

27:53 Mr.

27:53 Colbert?

27:54 Go ahead.

27:55 Thanks. My record.

28:06 Let's go, Doctor.

28:25 When the night turns into Broadway, the street plumes into flame, flings reflections hard into the shadows.

28:33 It's the dream.

28:34 It's Blair that ebbs and screams again, and faces darting, wavering, lost forever.

28:43 It's Broadway. The gaudiest.

28:45 The most violent.

28:46 The most violent. The lonesomest mile in the world.

28:52 Broadway. My Beat.

29:11 Broadway's My Beat stars Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover, with Charles Calvert as Tartaglia and Jack Crucian as Mugovan. The program is produced and directed by Elliot Lewis, with musical score composed and conducted by Alexander Courage. In tonight's story, Barbara Whiting was heard as Abby Forrest and Herb Butterfield as Dr.

29:31 Levering.

29:32 Featured in the cast were Norma Varden, Sam Edwards, and Edgar Barrier. Bill Anders speaking.

29:37 The End Tomorrow.

29:41 Night, don't miss Miriam Hopkins in the role Gloria Swanson made famous on the screen, the queen of the silent films in Sunset Boulevard. Here it adapted for Playhouse on Broadway and starring Miriam Hopkins. Tomorrow night on most of these same stations, presented by CBS Radio. Stay tuned now for Vaughn Monroe, who follows immediately over most of these same stations. And remember, Eve Arden as our Miss Brooks teaches you how to laugh Sundays on the CBS radio network.

30:16 © transcript Emily Beynon.

31:12 Welcome back. This is an example of some really superb radio writing. And what a fine and freak can do in this episode, you have to appreciate how in that Amelia Lane is so developed as a character and we understand so much about her and the type of person she was. And we don't even really get coherent dialogue from her. And that is why I think that Dr.

31:46 Leverling may be one of the killers I absolutely despise the most on this whole series. Because we get a sense of who this woman was. Let's take it as read that she was playing. She didn't obsess over that. She developed a mind and an intellect. She built a career. And not only that, she lived in a way that was kind and that was appreciated by the people.

32:19 Who worked with her.

32:20 And she turns 50 and his wife dies and she agrees to marry him. And she makes all of these plans and purchases for this big honeymoon. Spends her whole life savings on it. And this highly educated man... kills someone he has known for decades, and steals the fruits of her life's labors. There's a great contrast in the way that they related to younger people. She really took a personal interest in Michael, but she was not some desperate older woman who would take advantage of being emotionally troubled.

33:09 young man to make herself feel better. But that's kind of the exact same thing you saw with Dr. Leverling, who really gravitates towards Abby's beauty and honestly takes advantage of her naivety and shallowness. And goes down this path to fulfill his fantasy. And while Abbe is immature, he may be the most immature person in this entire story.

33:39 Even though, you know, he's got all these degrees and he's the same age as Miss Lane. And one other note on Abby. Amelia Lane had just turned 50, and she called her an old woman. Now, I will admit that when I was 17, 50 seemed old, but I had the good sense to know that 50 years old wasn't.

34:06 An old person.

34:08 Now, I am getting to the point, and more and more as the years go by, where I think I'm going to bristle a bit at some of the ways that old-time radio addresses, I hate to say, older people, even though they act like it's older. I just, I'm recording this on my 46th birthday. I mean, I'm kind of like, who are you calling old, Abby? Listener comments and feedback, and now we turn to our listener survey.

34:40 And comments, one listener writes, reminds me of listening to these type of shows in the early 50s. And Andy K. from Mesa writes, this is the first time listening to this podcast and will be listening going forward. Well, thanks so much and welcome aboard, Andy. Now it's time to thank our Patreon supporter of the day. Thank you so much to Rhonda, Patreon supporter since October 2020, currently supporting the podcast at the strongest level of $ 4 or more per month. Thanks so much for your support, Rhonda, and that will do it for today. If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite podcast software and be sure to rate and review the podcast wherever you download it from. We'll be back next Wednesday with another episode

35:32 of Broadway's My Beat, but join us back here tomorrow for Dragnetware.

35:36 The man who escaped, Ms. Reiner.

35:38 You remember him pretty well, do you, of what he looked like?

35:40 Oh, yes.

35:40 He's the one who did all the talking. He's the same one who hit my husband, too.

35:44 What did he look like, ma'am? How old would you say he was?

35:47 Oh, I don't know. I think I'd say he was in his late 30s, yes.

35:51 How tall, ma'am?

35:53 Well, my husband's 5'9, and I'd say the man was 2 inches taller than him. He's huskier, too. I'd guess about 175 or 80 pounds, a very strong-looking man.

36:05 Do you remember what he was wearing?

36:06 It was a tan sports coat, I think, and green slacks, light green, and a dark brown hat.

36:12 Did you notice anything unusual about him?

36:14 I beg your pardon?

36:15 Anything outstanding about him? Anything that was different? Say, a scar, a mole, tattoos, anything like that?

36:19 No, no, not that I could notice.

36:21 What was the first thing this man said to you and your husband, ma'am?

36:24 Well, he said it to all three of us, me and my husband and the bartender. That's George O'Leary. He's been with us for years. He's a good bartender. He'd only stay sober.

36:33 Yes, ma'am. What was the first thing the holdup man said?

36:35 Well, he's the same one that hit my husband, you know. He said in a real loud voice, he said, this is a stick-up. Get your hands up high and keep them there.

36:43 And what happened then?

36:44 We put our hands up for George. That's the bartender, you know. Scared him so bad, he dropped a full bottle of bourbon.

36:51 Bonded, too.

36:52 Broke all over the floor.

36:54 George isn't.

36:54 Well, that's why he drinks.

36:56 Well, what did the holdup men do after they had you raise your hands?

36:58 Well, that one that hit my husband. He told the other man to go behind the bar and get the money. It was all spread out on the bar. William and I was just checking the register when it happened.

37:07 Let's see.

37:08 Would you go on, please?

37:09 Well, after they got the register money, they put it in our bank bags, and then they went through my purse and through my husband's wallet and through George's wallet, too. They took George's last dollar and a half, got $ 805 in all cash. I guess you knew that.

37:22 Yes, ma'am.

37:29 I hope you'll.

37:32 Be with us then. In the meantime, send your comments to box13 at greatdetectives.net. Follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives. And check us out on Instagram, instagram.com slash greatdetectives. From Boise, Idaho, this is your host, Adam Graham, signing off.