 Good evening. This is Ken Roberts inviting you to listen to another adventure of Casey crime photographer Ace cameraman who covers the crime news of a great city our adventure for tonight The suicide the auditorium of a metropolitan theater Its seats sparsely occupied with board and restless play goers who have been witnessing the opening of a new drama by an unknown Dramatis I'm not that much of a hypocrite Annie of all the lousy shows I've sat through in my life. This takes the cake about the worst I've ever seen well, it's finally over. Let's get out. Yeah Well, at least we came in on passes a lot of these poor people paid for their seat wish I had then we could have walked out The guest of the producer you were sunk. I don't care anything about the producer Carla Ashby Author this mess is a nice guy when he sticks to the real estate business and try to write plays the blonde who played the Lead is his wife. Yeah, it's his wife Nedrim the Lord. Was she terrible? She can't act But you got it. She's got a face and figure that are something She's good-looking. Oh, there's Lee Gorman standing in the lobby and he spotted me Oh, is he the producer who sent you the ticket? Yeah, it's all curly-headed guy. Oh, hello, Casey See you stayed for the finish. Yes, Lee Miss Williams, Mr. Gorman. How do you do Williams? Well, there's no use asking how you like the play of course. Well, I don't think you could be kidded fella. No One of those big mistakes. We all make it one time or another closing it up Carl fields pretty bad about the whole thing the author Miss Williams Carl Ashby This was his first place. It's okay. He told whatever made him think he could write a play Lee He doesn't know anything about the theater. He's a business man They say everyone in the world has more or less secret ambition to write a play and He's married to an actress, you know our leading lady never needed a starring vehicle, but how could she have been fooled? How was I fooled? I've been in show business longer than Nedra has now believe it or not, Casey We thought the thing read well and it looked good in rehearsal Now I know we were only kidding ourselves Well, I must be getting backstage with the bad news of our closing Nice meeting Miss Williams. Thank you, Mr. Gorman. See you later Casey. We're so long Lee better luck next time Well, I hope so. Well, let's get out of this theater and yeah Boy, I can't figure it what this flopper o Lee Gorman's a smart showman. Oh, well, he's never had any big smash hits, you know, but he knows the theater You must have known this play didn't have a chance. He said everybody makes mistakes. It was too big a mistake for him Another funny thing too Lee Gorman is a kind of a guy some gals fall for pretty hard. I had a gorgeous surprise when I met him He's a beautiful hunk of man. Hmm, but what's funny before Nedra married Ashby quite suddenly about a year ago The gossip was that she was crazy about Gorman. Yeah It's funny he and Nedra and Ashby are together in this thing Hmm, it is You've made me curious made myself the same way huh So Gorman to you is a beautiful hunk of man. Why Mr. Casey, can you be curious about my motivations, too? Okay, see good evening miss Williams. Evening Ethel first. Hi pal. Say I didn't see you two last night Where was you? We went to the theater. Yeah, what'd you see the turkey starring Nedra Millard? Produced by a beautiful hunk of man Lee Gorman beautiful hunk of hmm Mr. Gorman must be seen to be appreciated I ain't ever seen him But I know the author of that play you saw Mr. Ashby comes in here every so often. He's a nice little guy I felt terribly sorry for him when I read all the mean things the critics wrote in their reviews this morning He'll get over the panning you got a guy with his dough doesn't have to worry because he isn't a second Eugene O'Neill What was the play about the critics used up so many words making fun of it? They didn't have room to say it was mostly concerned with the suicide Ethel Bert Suicide one of those heavily tragic domestic dreamers and with a corneous dialogue I've ever listened to why should a cheerful pleasant little guy like mr. Ash be right about suicide What I'd like to know is why you should write tell me after I answer this phone Casey blue note cafe. Ethel Bert speaking In just a minute your city desk Casey. Okay. Hello Burke Dell High Towers. Yeah, I know it's a swanky apartment building on East Parkway. What do we cover there? What? We're on our way. What is it Casey? Carl Ashby didn't only write a bad play about suicide He's just jumped from a window 20 stories up. This is a suicide case. He opened and shut Ashby was alone here in his apartment Wrote a note saying he was gonna do a hair carry and then he walked to that window and stepped out on the air He wrote a suicide note. Look address to his wife. What did it say captain? I'll let you in case you see it in a minute. Mr. Williams one of my tech man has it out in the kitchen right now He has his micro graphic camera set up there and is taking the usual fingerprints and vital evidence shots Oh, I suppose one of the last guys in the world. I'd figure is a suicide He'd got everything to live for lots of dough is swell home good-looking white. He took an awful licking last night Can you see that play he wrote? Yeah Play it was raised by every paper in town this morning yours included. He was a sensitive guy. It hurt I can understand that. Yeah, so could I and if I Didn't have a hunch about that play a hunch It's set up was all wrong. What do you mean? Where's Nedrum a lot Ashby's wife me in her bedroom down that hall crying her eyes It's nice to watch a pretty woman cry He seemed but you said Ashby was alone in this apartment when he was when he jumped Mrs. Ashby was down in the lobby talking to the night porter when his body hit the sidewalk talking to the night porter Yeah, about a job. She wanted him to do Look the doorman was there also and two elevator boys if you think maybe she pushed her husband out that window She has a perfect alibi. This is a big apartment. Don't the Ashby's keepservants. Yeah made cook and butler They were all sent to the movies tonight because Ashby wanted to be alone. Mrs. Ashby actually sent them out I meant naturally the woman of the house usually attends to such matters. Oh, come on in sergeant dresser Here's that suicide note captain. We've given it the full treatment. We're finished with it now Thanks, sergeant. This is the note Ashby left me. I want to see that. Yeah, so do I There's a piece torn off the top Ashby must have torn it or used to sheet of paper already torn the notes just as I found it and I came into this room and everyone else Read it my beloved wife When life becomes a mockery one can only long for the sweet repose of death. I Am a failure a poor guy means that play he wrote. I have failed not only myself I have failed you whom I love with all my heart He figured he'd done Mrs. Ashby a dirty trick because as the play star she came in for some of the panning he got That's one way of translating the statement He goes on the shame the bitter agony of shame. I suffer Oh brother, it's a terribly corny letter Casey terribly corny is right and Hmm you finish and the notes unsigned. I told you we verified Ashby's handwriting. Yeah, but he didn't sign it No name at the bottom. It just ends You said it was addressed to Mrs. Ashby low. It starts off with my dear wife, but not my dear Nedra The top of the page is torn off. And what does that mean to you wise guy? Nothing yet, but it's put a punch behind my hunch. I Think it's a lead on how to add up. So you're gonna do some arithmetic Mm-hmm. Well five bucks as you'll get nothing out of it But mental exercise which won't do you any harm this case is open and shot Mrs. Ashby I have my nerves under control now. You were most considerate and kind and letting me go to my room. I Had to be alone for a while Now if you want to question me some more, I'm sure you've already told me all you can but Sit down. Thank you Hello, mr. Casey. Hello Nedra. You haven't met miss Williams Nedra Millard. Mrs. Carl Ashby. Miss Williams is a reporter on my paper. How do you do miss Williams? How do you do, Mrs. Ashby? We're sorry to be here under these conditions. You have our deepest sympathy. Thank you You knew poor Carl rather well, mr. Casey. Yes, and I liked him Captain Logan tells us you were downstairs when he fell. Yes in the lobby. I We heard someone scream outside then an awful dull thought Carl was lying on the sidewalk Try not to think of it, Mrs. Ashby. You'd left Carl alone up here. How long before it happened? I don't know five minutes maybe ten when you left him. You had no inkling. Of course not I knew he was greatly depressed about the play, but I'd never You thought Carl's play had a chance of success Nedra. Oh, I wouldn't have encouraged him to write it I wouldn't have acted in it if I hadn't. You only realized your mistake last night. Yes All of us make mistakes, don't we? big ones Yeah, big ones Miss Williams and I have to get back to the paper with our stuff So long Nedra. Oh and Logan I'm taking your five buck bet So you did your arithmetic last night. That's right Logan. You want to hear my totals? I've listening. Okay, there they are And Nedra Millard married Carl Ashby for his dough But Lee Gorman remained her white-haired boy She and Gorman planned a nice safe way to get rid of Ashby and to get his money for themselves You know the dear old perfect crime. I've heard of the perfect crime Yeah, well you almost swallowed this one tell me more Ashby like millions of other people wanted to write a play Have you ever thought of writing a play pal? Why I've never had the time well, I should be had the time Never had the time well, I should be had the time so he wrote his play guided by his wife and Gorman guided sure They knew the theater He'd naturally take their professional advice because he was an amateur This play dealt with a suicide That suicide note you found after he dropped 20 stories Was written for his play what psychic power tells you that torn off top of the note tells me that Have you ever read a play in manuscript form? No Well the name of the character who is to speak is written either above the speech He's to make or at the upper left-hand side of the speech Now in this case, I'm sure it was written above That's why the top of the page was torn off to get rid of the play character's name. You think yes Now what's more? The whole text of that note was in keeping with a corny dialogue Ashby wrote for his play It was stilted unnatural. It wasn't real. You saw the play with the lines of that note in it. Of course not Gorman and Nedra aren't dumb Sometime before the play went into rehearsal I think one of them got Ashby to write the page you found in his own handwriting as part of a suggested script change Of course naturally if change was never made But the page was carefully preserved and whoever got the page from Ashby after he wrote what was wanted Took care that only the writer's fingerprints appeared on it sure and Gorman produced the play knowing it would make a laughing stock of its offer The ridicule certain to be heaped on poor Ashby was to provide an apparent motive for his suicide And how do you think was Ashby actually killed Lee Gorman did the job? Gorman let himself into the apartment with a key give it him by Nedra Pushed Ashby who was a much smaller guy than himself out the window planted that suicide note for you to find and Took the frayed elevator down the back while everyone was out front gawking at the body on the side You have a very nice theory Casey. Oh, I'm sure it's more in the theory. It's a fact How are you going to prove that? Well, listen now Don't you cops want to do anything for the doughy taxpayers shell out to you go on you get the proof pal Suppose I already have pretty good proof that your theory is all wet Huh a quarter of a million bucks is a lot of money, isn't it? What are you getting at I had to talk with Ashby's lawyer this morning while you were still wrestling with your arithmetic He told me that Ashby took out a two hundred and fifty thousand dollar life insurance policy in his wife's favor less than a year ago Less than a year ago and like almost every other life insurance policy It automatically becomes void if the holder commits suicide within 12 months of its date of issue then And as things stand now Nedra loses a quarter of a million. That's right Sherlock Do you still think she helped arrange a murder that it looked like a suicide? No, and Gorman wouldn't either not with that much Jack involved. Maybe Maybe Ashby's leaving you so much dough. They could afford to skip that policy She'll get a nice piece of change, but Ashby's lawyer says he wasn't as rich a guy as people thought Didn't Nedra know about that policy or Ashby's lawyer says she knew about it Yeah, well, who's the lawyer Ben Cartwright is his word good enough for you When Cartwright tells you anything, it's so What did he say that she knew about the suicide provision? No, but everybody knows about those suicide cause not everybody Logan Not everybody Gorman's a bachelor. He's never had any reason to take out life insurance And sharp shooting gals sometimes miss their target through overconfidence Everybody does make mistakes Logan I'm paying a call on Ben Cartwright. Oh, I'm still convinced that my theory about Ashby's suicide is right I'm gonna try to prove it by the thing you think disproves it That insurance policy The theory you've just given me of the possible manner of my client's death is very disturbing. Mr. Casey Mr. Cartwright, I'm laying all my cards on the table because I need your help Do your knowledge did Mrs. Ashby know about the suicide clause in that $250,000 policy to my knowledge No, I never discussed it with her. Do you think her husband never discussed it with it? I doubt it when I took out life insurance I didn't tell my wife Healthy-minded men pay little attention to that suicide clause and I always regarded Carl Ashby as a healthy-minded man So did I and I didn't know him as well as you did Carl Ashby was my friend as well as my client. Mr. Casey. How can I help you? You handled all of his affairs? Yes Mrs. Ashby knows that of course. You must know it Captain Logan quoted you as saying that Ashby wasn't as rich as people thought But his widow stands to collect a nice piece of change a very nice piece of change It would be unethical of me to tell you the extent of his estate, but it's large. Mr. Cartwright I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know how your legal ethics will tie up with what I'm going to ask you to do But where murder is concerned, I think everybody's ethics can be stretched a little and Carl Ashby was your friend Go on I'd like you to call on Mrs. Ashby today and Talk to her about that insurance policy and form your own ideas to whether she knew about the suicide clause Now if you decide she didn't know about it Give her to understand that her husband left her less than And say ten thousand dollars But this is ridiculous mr. Cartwright Carl was worth over half a million. He told me so Financial reverses can be more easily concealed from a man's wife than from his attorney, Mrs. Ashby only ten thousand dollars Of course had he died by any other means than suicide you'd receive an additional quarter million. Yes Quarter of a million Well, I must be leaving now, Mrs. Ashby. Goodbye Goodbye. Oh, oh, yes. Yes, sir. Goodbye, mr. Cartwright She seemed to be thinking very deeply when I left her mr. Casey you did a swell job mr. Cartwright Nedra Ashby is going to be watched very closely from now on and so is Lee Gorman Lee this is Nedra. How are you darling? I've been trying to get you for the last hour. Well, I just came home Lee I've got to see you tonight. Yes, what about I can't tell you over the telephone I'll come to your apartment. What time nine o'clock Okay, and be alone Well, you're here right on the nose Nedra my sweet close that door Lee. Oh sure darling Now, let me take your rat. No, no, I'll keep it on. Hey, you're upset about something Hey, the cops know the police haven't bothered me Your scheme has worked out swellly Carl is considered a suicide and I told you he would be but you didn't tell me that the $250,000 life insurance policy he took out for me is no good if he kills himself Why What do you mean? I won't get a dime of that quarter million because Carl Supposedly took his own life. I don't get it. No because you don't know anything about insurance policies And I didn't but I've learned about them today from Carl's lawyer and he told me the main thing He told me was that I'll get only $10,000 from Carl's estate only yes My rich husband was practically broke that insurance policy was the biggest thing he had to leave me And I'm going to get that quarter of a million You can't get it if the company won't pay they'll pay on every form of death, but suicide They'll pay on proof that Carl was murdered and They're going to get that proof. Are you crazy? We kill Carl you and I know Lee You killed him just you alone. I Don't think I heard you correctly my dear You planned and executed some of the principal details of the scheme You even made it possible for me to get into the apartment that night And while I made it possible for you to use the freight elevator without danger of detection I was establishing a perfect alibi for myself. You mean that you can we'll tell you what I mean What do you want me to do sit down at that desk oh Then then you'll write a confession that you and you alone killed my husband Oh sit down and write now you can't get away with this if I wrote such a confession Do you think I'd stick to it after it was written if you're fooling up to try and pin this murder on me I'll tell everything that happened and you'll go to the chair with me. I'm not a fool Lee write that note. I I get your plan now After I wrote what you want you you'd put that gun to my head and press the trigger Then you'd stick the gun in my hand and I'd be thought of suicide Yes Yes, that's your plan take your pen and write now Since you mean to kill me I'll take another step. I'll shoot you now I don't like to shoot guns from ladies hands You've been listening. Yes, we had a front-row seat for your little performance on that fire escape with a dictaphone rig So we heard everything you said and some very interesting things you and Lee said Nedra weren't they interesting Casey I He did it all no matter what you heard Lee Gorman did it all not I little lie you planned the whole thing It was your scheme. It was all you. Oh, no not enough Take these ex lovebirds away boy. Just a minute Logan I want Lee and Nedra to pose for a couple of pictures. Oh, yes, and from you I'd like five bucks So them two sweetie pies turned against one another huh Casey well You should have heard him after Logan got him to headquarters at Albert Each made a full confession of what the other had done They're going to wind up sitting in the same piece of hot furniture hot furniture. Oh You mean the electric? Oh Oh How'd you figure mrs. Ashby had go to Gorman's apartment after that lawyer talked to her Casey and do what she did do No, there wasn't anything else she could do to salvage that 250 grand insurance and Lee Gorman was right in his theory Ethelbert she meant to shoot him when she got his confession and make him appear as a suicide You know I'd say that Nedra Mallard Ashby ain't a very nice lady Check pal say that again But A certain person I know thinks Lee Gorman a beautiful honk a man And tell her for what you did with the $5 bet that you want Logan Casey, huh? Oh Okay, I bet it back to him plus five more that the Red Sox had win today and they lost Everybody makes mistakes. Don't they? Well, that's what I've always said everybody makes mistakes. Yeah Did you say the Red Sox lost today this adventure of crime Photographer starring Stott Cotsworth is Casey came to you through the worldwide facilities of the United States armed forces radio service the voice of information and education