 From Hollywood, it's time now for Johnny dollar my good air Johnny No, the boys at the highway turnoff haven't seen her or Benny either one not a soul out there way in the last hour Nothing Mike no fresh tracks on the logging road no sign of her and the worst thing is it's starting to snow again We will Mike Maybe even took her from the house hard until both Maybe she didn't get scared and run. Maybe it was him Mike stop it that kind of thing. It's not gonna help any I don't know, but I've got a half-baked idea and I may be right stay there at the house I'm coming back to pick you up and one thing you can do while you're waiting what John pray Tonight and every week day night Bob Bailey in the transcribed adventures of the man with the action-packed Expense account America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator goes to Lee Johnny dollar From special investigator Johnny dollar location Brambury, Michigan to the home office tri-mutual insurance limited Hartford, Connecticut Assignment the next shurn matter a more important fine. Kathy O'Dare Item 12 on expense account $4.90 a tank full of gas for the county pickup I borrowed from deputy sheriff Dan Martin the falling snow was thickening now and the wind was rising and steadying in the Northwest Tonight had all the makings of a blizzard and wherever Kathy and her daughter had gone we had to find them before it hit It was 10 14 p.m. When I pulled up at the side porch of the O'Dare house Kathy's father came hurrying out to the truck leaving the door open behind him and buttoning his heavy Mackinac as he ran Any news Mike? Not a thing. All right, get in shut the door Yeah, we'll get a foot of snow before morning with a zero wind behind it now listen Mike I think we can forget any idea that Benny found her and got her out of the house In that case she wouldn't have taken your car. He's already got one I know I thought of that and he wouldn't have given her time to dress herself and gel the way she did with heavy clothes and snow boots And she wouldn't have taken the rifle then what has happened? She knew I'd be there to talk to her sometime this evening I think she lost a nerve couldn't face it decided to run again maybe so but where Johnny that's what I want you to tell me What no, I don't mean you knew what she was going to do and where she was going to go or Then how do you think I can tell you look Kathy knew about the roadblocks Dan Martin set up to trap Benny Stark knew where they were So if she didn't want to be seen then naturally she'd avoid them She couldn't not if she wanted to get away take the highway to flinter Detroit She'd have to pass one of them at least but she hasn't passed any of them So she's still in this area and I don't think she ever meant to leave it But Dan Martin said Kathy used to spend a lot of time in the woods when she was growing up He said she knew every back trail in these hills logging camps trappers cabins She did she used to worry that dickens out of me the way she Yeah Now where would she go Mike if she wanted to hide out back in the hills somewhere There's a lot of places Chippewa canyons one Fear for timber camps abandoned in the winter Some cabins along the No, no, she couldn't make it. There's a roadblock before you get to the turnoff there It's gotta be someplace she could reach without being seen. Well, there's There's barkers flats But that's 12 miles before trail if you wouldn't try it in this weather not not with Jill along anyway Then there's Lake pine No, it's over the other way pine lake road. Where's that runs northwest of town Not much better than a wagon road Dan didn't put a block on it because it dead ends at the lake about five miles out What's out there nothing at the lake But you can go on a pine creek about four miles on foot and there's some cabins Maybe a waste of time Johnny. Let's get going Expense account item 13 $6.90 one dry cell electric lantern an extra pair of batteries picked up at the brambary hardware company in the way through town The falling snow driven by a bitter cold wind formed a dense curtain in front of our headlights And from the turnoff all the way up the narrow twisting road to pine lake. I had to keep the truck in second gear There were car tracks in the road all right several of them But they were covered now by the new blanket of snow And it was impossible to tell whether they'd been made earlier tonight or a week ago The road ends a couple of yards past this next turn and we'll soon know There's four or five side turnoffs clearance where where you can park We'll have to check all of them. I guess all right that draw there on the right that break there in the trees That's that's where the pine creek trail starts. I will swing in Mike, I guess we won't have to check those turnoffs. Huh? Is that your car over there under the trees? Yeah, that's it I left Mike waiting in the cab while I went over to look inside the car It was empty abandoned and there was no note no clue of any kind to tell where Kathy had gone I raised the hood and felt the motorblock ice cold The car had been here for some time I flashed the lantern on the ground and followed the faint tracks made by two pairs of snowboats The end of the deep draw that led back into the hills the start of the pine creek trail I snapped off the lantern and stumbled through the snow back to the truck But you're fine johnny. It's them. All right. They've headed up the trail. I found tracks in the snow Then we'd better get started. I'll wait I'll go after the mic you take the truck go into town find dan martin bring help as fast as you can That storm's getting worse. No, you don't I know there is starting up that trail with a blizzard coming on And if you think you're gonna protect me by sending it off Mike, there's no time and you're wrong I'm not protecting you. I'm protecting myself. What do you mean that bum leg of yours? I don't want you on my hands too along with the girls All right, johnny. I'll go after danie And hurry mike. I'm depending on you. Yeah Good luck johnny see you mike I stood there in the snow watching the headlights of the truck move away Finally they swung around the bend and disappeared And I suddenly felt more alone than I ever had in my life I'd gotten rid of mike deliberately sent him away on purpose Because I hadn't told him everything I could see no point in tearing his heart out There was another car parked on beyond cathy's nearly hidden by the trees Jed Wharton station wagon The car that had been stolen by a killer named benny stark It took me half an hour to cover the first mile and the storm kept getting worse The beam of the lantern penetrated a bear 30 feet ahead of me before it was smothered out in a white blackness of the night After a few hundred yards of the tracks I was trying to follow and nearly disappeared snowblower blotted out I gave up looking for them and stuck to old mike's description of the trail Following the left bank of the frozen creek The drifts were deeper down along the creek bottoms and the going was rougher But I didn't dare leave it to look for better footing. It was my only landmark the trail itself was buried Any man who lost his way tonight and wandered off into one of those side gullies Would wander straight to his death An hour passed Then an hour and a half or two hours maybe I lost all track of time and distance The wind cut through my clothes and the numbing coal crept into me deeper and deeper Gradually the walking stumbling breathing even thinking became automatic and without feeling The world itself seemed to narrow down to a tiny circle close around me And all beyond was chaos Blackness and roaring storm I tripped over form and logs and floundered back to my feet Dropped my lantern and recovered it Broke through the crusted drifts and struggled for footing And kept on moving in the weird nightmare of the blizzard I could hardly recognize reality when I came face to face with it And the beam from my lantern touched him crouching by a tree a few yards away I could barely accept him as being real He'd been watching my light as I approached waiting for me It was benny stark with his gun leveled and aimed Don't be a fool benny drop that gun A curtain of snow swept between us then gliding out the side of me and I was grateful I turned and stumbled on into the storm moving in pitch darkness now Except for the ghostly glow from the snow covered ground The second shot had smashed my lantern I had nothing left to go by but instinct and luck and they weren't enough Within 15 minutes. I was hopelessly lost That's when I started hearing the music Miles from no place where there couldn't be any music Except inside my head The cold and fatigue were finally doing their work. I knew the signs The next step was to start wandering in circles smaller and smaller ones in the last step To drop exhausted and go peacefully to sleep peacefully and permanently But the sound kept going louder And I moved in the direction it seemed to be coming from It couldn't be just illusions. It had to be real Hello Hello Then suddenly only a few yards away a brilliant blaze of light exploded from the darkness And it seemed that a golden haired girl was standing in the middle of it And for a moment my sanity tottered Who's out there? My golden vision was wearing blue jeans and a flannel shirt and was holding a rifle She looked exactly like the photograph I'd seen of kathy odair And the blaze of light came from an open cabin door Hold him a stare It's johnny dollar I don't think I'll ever get warm again You will if you don't move away from the stove a little the back of your shirt is starting to smoke Yeah, I thought I was beginning to feel something How's the firewood? There's plenty and plenty of food and a radio If I hadn't heard that music had a blundered right on past this cabin We've got everything you can hold out for a month if we have to I hope we have to What about your daughter? Is she all right? Sure She's fine The picnic for her a camping trip She saw in the sleep back down the lean to dreaming about Santa Claus, I suppose I wish I could How did you find me mr. Dollar? Oh hunch guesswork I was born under a lucky star I wasn't Oh, I don't know I think you've been pretty lucky considering everything More so than your landlady back in new york Mrs. Grappler What do you mean? Betty Stark went to see her tried to find out where you were When she wouldn't tell him he broke her arm No Oh, poor woman Oh, it's a rough game or so dear trying to play it cozy with a mobster like Nick Schern You know, of course that he sent Benny here to find you You'll have a hard time finding me in this place He did find you What? Maybe he followed you from the house or saw you drive through town Anyway, I ran into him back down the trailer ways I thought I heard shooting a while ago You did he tried to ambush me He thought he had the drop and he wouldn't give up I had to kill him There'll be another intriguing episode in our story of the next shern matter tomorrow tomorrow The showdown victory and then disaster When a visitor to the little town of brambury turns out to be death Join us won't you yours truly johnny dollar Johnny dollar starring bob bailey is transcribed in hollywood Written by less crutchfield. It is produced and directed by jack john stone Be sure to join us tomorrow night same time and station for the next exciting episode of yours truly johnny dollar This is roi roan speaking