 the whistler and the whistler and i know many things for i walk by night i know many strange tales hidden in the hearts of men and women who have stepped into the shadows yes i know the nameless terrors of which they dare not speak and now the whistler's strange story enough rope it came to martin ford's as a terrible shock during the year since the death of his wife margaret he had buried himself in his painting managing somehow to drive the horror of it all out of his mind but now it was back again back in the person of a police lieutenant who had called without warning and quietly dropped his bombshell and so mr form's we thought you'd want to know the man who killed your wife was arrested late this afternoon the men i i can understand what such a shock to you but you see the investigation has never stopped when a man has killed six people the police department doesn't give up easily the man confessed well no the arresting officers had to use their guns he's in the prison ward at the hospital naturally we hope you'll come around long enough for questioning but you're you're certain he's the strangler there's no doubt about it yes it's my duty to inform the relatives of the victims i'm only sorry it couldn't have been sooner well i'm sure you people have done everything possible it must have been very difficult yes it has been well we really hope we have something in the case of of your wife it's being a little different from the rest different the weapon i mean in all the other cases it appeared the strangler used a silk scarf but with your wife yes they told me a length of rope was clothesline judging from the market too bad he didn't leave it around oh would it have made any difference oh yes even a scrap might have prevented his next murder our analysts could have placed it down and with luck we'd have had a description of the man who bought it well the fact that you've captured him now yeah yeah we'll find out the whole story now well mr. Forbes they should be getting back i suppose if you learn anything further we'll pass it along of course there's a chance he may not pull through but well we want to be as thorough as he was not leave any loose ends around and he looks like oh yes of course well i'll see you to the door oh no no don't bother hey good night mr. Forbes we'll keep in touch good night lieutenant good night loose end even a scrappy scent can't leave a scrap yes it came as a terrible shock didn't it mark but not for the reason the lieutenant suspected no it's something more impelling than grief that sends you upstairs to your attic studio just a scrap of rope the lieutenant said just a tiny scrap would be enough to tie up the case to reveal that artist martin Forbes had used a series of local strangling to cover up the murder of his own wife naturally the actual length of rope you use was destroyed immediately afterwards wasn't it martin but the piece that came from the odd length used to tie up an old trunk to hang in your studio and on the attic wall you know now that every piece must be found and burned at once on the way out to the incinerator you realize that the front doorbell is ringing hastily you stuff the rope under a chair cushion and hurry to answer i guess well you are home almost gave up i've been standing here ringing but i was busy upstairs i have you are mr. Forbes at martin for that's right i'm harvey brand of claire brand husband claire brand well i'm sorry mr brand but i can't ever recall meeting your wife oh you never did claire was uh well she was one of the strangling victims too just like your life mr. Forbes oh mind if i step in a minute oh no no please do just wanted to talk to somebody you know i mean after that detector fella came by with the news said he was coming here next oh yes yes he left uh it's short time awful shock having it all brought up again isn't it uh i don't sit there uh this other chair it's more comfortable don't worry about me there's your phone anyway oh yes well excuse me hello oh darling Adele five volt dr. few are i guess what i am rather busy at the moment well we'll call you a little later huh fine fine i'll come back later then goodbye you tremble as you hang up the phone don't you mark because the sound of her voice brings it all back to you and with a stranger sitting here in your living room you can't even afford to think about it you killed your white Margaret because of Adele didn't you you wanted to be free to paint to be with her it was the poetry of those two things that resulted in your murder plan and Adele the way in europe had no idea what you meant when you told her the night she sailed that things might be different after her two years study in europe the sound of harvey brance voice cuts into your thoughts bad news mr. Forbes oh no no no it's nothing are you were saying mr. van make it harvey yeah you see to get to the point i thought it was time you and i ought to get together we'll get together sure talk things over since claire passed on well how do you do it do what keep busy keep your mind occupied oh well i have my work you see i've done endless painting oh sure it was a man the time he wants oh i you're lucky having it work out that way i just have the memories some of them not too good the flour and i didn't get along very well oh my fault of course i suppose you and your wife were very happy together very i guess the ladies any of them would be attracted to you then i guess i was too demanding of claire you know didn't give her enough rope yes another could i get your glass of wine or something mr. van the harvey i haven't been very hospitable oh it's all right you had your friend there to think about oh that was nothing i still i might slip over to this other chair well let's say it's under the cushion i'll take that speaking of rope mr war yes but the housekeeper must have left it there she's often very careless i i wonder if you'd mind you caught me as a rather busy time sure sure you've got to get back to your painting huh sorry i didn't mean to stay anyhow i would like to talk to you again sometime or any time mr brand the rope oh yeah someone's walked out with it in my hand here you are the old saying i'd give a man enough rope and um well tonight mr forbes martin by the way i've often thought it odd about your wife the way she was killed what do you mean well it was different from the others i mean he used a rope yes he did didn't well uh good night mr brand good night martin i look forward to seeing you again soon there it is martin after a year without interruption or threats a year to paint in the dream of a lovely dark eyed girl who would someday come sailing back from europe to find you a free man it isn't that simple at the moment is it not with the killer you blame lying unconscious in the hospital the police lieutenant who looked at you with quiet gray eyes and harvey brand who somehow seemed to have more on his mind than grief harvey worries you and so does the rope the rope that can hang you if you don't watch out after harvey leaves you waste no time in getting the rope outside to the incinerator you watch the smoldering flame and then with a line of poetry running through your mind you start down the narrow path to the place where your wife's body was discovered more than a year ago to reach the goal off afar to pause and catch a falling star quite a jack the man who wrote those lines free thinker ain't not restrained by laws you're not either are you mr ford's well i i don't know what you mean lieutenant i uh i noticed you were burning something in your incinerator oh well it's only bad very bad you're only supposed to do that between six and ten in the morning huh oh hey did that what brought you back here lieutenant oh no i had a little trouble with my car back here in the street behind you so i cut across the back lot i thought perhaps i could use your phone oh certainly i'll show you where it is all right good mr brad was here right up to a moment ago all right i thought he was coming over you know we worry about him and we're afraid he might do something foolish suicide i don't know but uh mr ford's if he ever does get acting particularly uh would you tip us off might save something from happening oh i'll be glad to cooperate you know you'd be doing us a favor to sort of uh well take him under your wing you've managed to adjust yourself so much better yes i've tried to busy myself in my work are the phones in this way oh having company uh no no i'm not expecting you oh the phone's right on there lieutenant just help yourself all right thank you at the island darling you sounded so strange on the phone no no no don't don't get out but no i don't know darling darling i can't see you now it's just one of those things it's nothing too important and i don't understand there's a little cocktail bar down the street a few blocks the blue lamp i'll meet you there in an hour or so how's that well all right darling i'll you're waiting to martin ford's is a brief account of my two years in euro i had an awfully hard time keeping my promise not to ride while i was away even though you didn't like me i missed you so much darling as much as i have missed you oh much more you probably forgot all about me the moment i stepped on the boat oh no i could never forget you were there you were never out of my mind not once well i must say you're welcome home was rather strange martin goodness the way you were shooting me away from your house a little while ago well you probably had some gorgeous redhead modeling for you and you didn't want me to see it oh i know we're just the same after we're married i'm going to insist you paint nothing but grapes apples elderly ladies and vans everything you said martin yes it has upset you hasn't it what i mean about the man the police caught oh how about you poor darling having to go through all this again the papers are making a holiday of it i know i'm sorry i had to find out this way i suppose i should have written to you about it but i couldn't bring myself around i understand naturally i tended to tell you when you came home well it's all over now martin the best thing to do is to forget it completely that's right we'll just forget it another martini i think not darling oh darling you're so jumpy it's only the pinball machine over there man must hit the jackpot or something your turn glance toward the end of the bar the man standing at the pinball machine is harvey brant he nods in your direction and a thin smile crosses his lips as he turns to speak to the bartender you slip off the bar stool start for the door with a dell at your elbow before you're halfway across the room harvey calls to you harvey partner now what oh oh hello well how are you my boy i'm fine harvey just fine leaving so soon are you yes we were going out to dinner i just stopped him for oh i was hoping i could buy a drink martin and uh the young lady of course so to celebrate my good fortune i just hit the jackpot oh well thank you very much but do we have surely you won't turn old harvey down near sir woodling uh adel uh this is harvey brant now do you do woodling you're not for me are you by any chance no dexas texas well what do you know adel i think we better oh now martin my boy you can't rush off like this drag this charm a little lady away before we had a chance to do some texas talk no how about a drink now we should be getting along really darling i don't mind it's still early that's the ticket come along folks there's an empty table over here oh waiter you're trapped aren't you martin and you sit there for the next half hour listening to harvey brant passing himself off as a lifelong friend finally you managed to fake an important phone call when you return to the table you use it as an excuse to break away then you take a dell to dinner and you can see she's been impressed by the good-humored friendly mr brant after dinner you drop a dell off at her hotel then drive home and as you start up the front steps a familiar sound reaches you the slow rhythmical creaking of the port swing oh harley your uh little lady friend left a cigarette lighter in the lounge oh oh thank you i'll give it to charming young woman very charming intelligent too like intelligent women here no no longer not very well i was under the impression you'd met quite some time before your wife died i met her only recently she's interested in in art yes just while you were making that phone call she mentioned that she'd been studying in europe the past two years seems she also said something about knowing you before she went abroad if i'm not mistaken well it's all rather convenient the way things have turned out isn't it singy martin uh no thank you no well i think i'll turn in now if you don't mind i have a busy day tomorrow that's the trouble with you martin you work too hard don't relax enough you ought to have a hobby i have in fact i have several hobbies well that's fine harvey but tell me martin uh are you interested in guns yes i have a wonderful collection just what you'd need to give you a nice start frankly it takes up a little too much of my time but with all the other hobbies i have been thinking of giving it up the gun collection i mean oh i see it's worth quite a bit of money well naturally i wouldn't expect you to pay it all off at one time i could let you have a couple pieces now and then sort of higher than the installment class well i don't know if i could afford it harvey oh i'd make a fair price on the collection i'm sure you wouldn't have any trouble at all meeting the payments well well i don't know harvey perhaps uh harvey is what i need i'm sure it is martin pick it over anyway there's no hurry all right i'll i'll think it over good night oh lieutenant morning mr forb's i hope i didn't disturb oh of course i want you to me oh no no no thanks hey i just happened to be passing by i thought i'd see how you were getting along uh-huh the um killer any new development still lingering oh he hasn't regained consciousness no no not exactly he muttered something last night something about not killing them all not killing them what do you suppose that means oh we don't attach much importance to it the man's in the coma they often say odd things but tell me mr forb's about harvey brand is he feeling any better well yes yes i think so um there is one question i'd like to ask you lieutenant all right what's that mr brandt uh is he well all income i mean why do you ask that well i was just curious he doesn't seem to have a profession you know i've i've wondered about that myself the man doesn't seem to have a dime sometimes i don't know how he gets along at all oh i see oh that answer your question mr forb yes that answers my question that's right martin the question is answered now isn't it explains harvey's suggestion that you buy his gun collection somehow he's learned the truth about your wife's death guess that the reason for it was a dell and you're going to have to pay for his silence still you're not quite certain that harvey intends to blackmail that is until that evening when you're out driving with the dell martin i'm a business day friend of yours friend well that night mr brandt brandt yes he happened to be in the neighborhood and what do you want oh just drop by to say hello and chat a little what about he's terribly interested in you darling as a matter of fact he's quite interested in both of us oh what did you know all about me how we met and where he was full of questions my goodness is he usually that inquisitive no no not usually he also mentioned that you were thinking of buying his gun collection oh yeah i didn't know you were interested in guns martin well when i wasn't really in a short time ago well it's always nice to have a hobby but isn't this one have to be a bit expensive yes i'm afraid so are they all afraid it's going to be very expensive i'll know how expensive tonight i'm going to see harley well martin come in come in sorry to make it so late oh it's quite all right quite all right now make yourself comfortable so you decided to take that gun collection off my hands huh i knew you didn't doubt it for a minute the uh the price harvey we haven't discussed that yet ten thousand dollars will take care of everything ten thousand cheap martin considering everything i know about guns yeah i'll show you some of the pieces let's finish cleaning them before you arrive there's one martin finest old pistol i ever saw isn't it a beauty yeah that's a fine gun is it loading sure is take it easy now yes sir you're gonna get a lot of pleasure out of this collection my boy am i harvey ten thousand dollars for collection of crummy guns the whole lot's not worth more than a hundred dollars i don't understand what i'm not buying harvey now just you thought you could believe me for ever said i had didn't you you should have known harvey if i murdered my wife i wouldn't hesitate to murder again wait a minute martin it's not too late to talk things it is too late harvey it's too late for anything of this oh i wasn't sure before now that you'd killed your wife martin but now i know oh you didn't think i'd be silly enough to have you a loaded gun did you and you didn't think i'd be silly enough to come here without a gun of my own did you harvey it's almost over now isn't it martin the anxiety the suspicion the sheer terror of it all the killer dying in the hospital will never talk again you're sure of that and harvey brant the only other person in the world who knows you murdered your wife is gone now dead at your feet you wipe the fingerprints from the gun press it into harvey's hand confident it will appeal as a simple case of suicide and you're not worried the gun will be traced to you no you took care of that little matter over a year ago when you first planned to kill your wife but the opportunity never presented itself then the strangler came along and he provided you with a perfect plan less than 15 minutes later you're slipping into your house quietly through the study door and then suddenly you stop there's someone in the next room you can hear his voice slowly you open the door yeah yeah that's right no no he hasn't come in yet all right yeah i'll be here there you are hello mr forms oh lieutenant side door was open i thought you'd be around yes i was out for but the fresh air that's so he didn't go over to brance by any chance oh no no what makes you i i think you ought to know mr forms we've been watching harvey brant for a long time had his phone tapped for weeks checking everyone who went in and out of his house we don't overlook any bets at all when we're watching a guy like brant nobody's been in and out of that house that we haven't seen you mean yes i mean you were seen coming out of brance place the man you heard me talking to in the phone was the man watching brance house but then you yes we know exactly what happened when you were there you know mr forms we've been certain right from the start that harvey brant killed his wife but what i don't get is why you killed harvey brant the whisperer