 Good evening, friends of the Inner Sanctum. This is your host to welcome you through the squeaking door. Say, did you ever find that you can't get a certain face out of your mind? Until you do, go out of your mind. Like me and a guy named Joe, for instance. I ran into Joe accidentally the other day, over at the city morgue, and Joe's been haunting me ever since. I can't get over the smug way he dead-panned me, and then gave me the old cold shoulder routine. I don't want to cry, baby, but I dug down plenty of time and again to keep Joe from going on there. But no gratitude, no gratitude at all from Joe. Mr. I'm finished with Joe for Keith. Tonight's Inner Sanctum mystery, Murder Takes a Honeymoon, was written by John Robert and stars Everett Sloan and the Role of George with Anne Shepard as Mary. And now for tonight's free lesson in how to improve your screen. Ever get that folksy, woodsy feeling until you're in an absolute frenzy to get away from it all and go native? Well, our honeymooning couple tonight got the urge until they found that living in the country was simply murder. To rhyme it, our toothsome found it positively gruesome. Stand by and we'll demonstrate. We're on a milk train somewhere in the east huffing through the rock and rubble of deflated whistle-stuff country. The yellow train light blink eerily. The hour is sometime between night and morning. One car holds just the young couple. They huddle closely half asleep, as the train grown into another of its interminable stops. Joe, I heard him say noisiness. No, Ravenwood. Loisiness next. Oh, there must be a million of these one-horse towns. What's eating you, Mary? You look like you've just been declared an orphan. I feel like an orphan, George. Cold, I'm hungry. We're far from home. We're heading home, kid. At the next stop, there's a farm. More land than you can cover in a dane. George, wedding gift for me to you. I'm sorry, but the country is not for me. I'm a big shitty girl. I'll give it a try, huh? Come on, smile. George, I'm frightened. Of me? I don't know. You've suddenly changed. Buying a farm, packing up without warning and leaving New York. It's all in such a hurry. I'm an impulsive kid. That's how I married you, remember? I dated you blind, waltzed you around once, and on an impulse, I hustled you to City Hall. I bought the farm the same way. The way it happened is you were running away from something. Running to something, kid. I'm tired of the creeps and the phonies and the crumbs. I'm tired of stale beer, cheap movies and crowds. Okay, skip it. I'm thirsty. You want me to fetch you a drink? No, thanks. All right, I'll be back in a minute. Hey, you've got the jitters. There was a hand out there in the darkness, reaching toward me through the window. Oh, kid, your imagination's gone crazy. You're over-tired. George, look. What's that? An envelope. Someone dropped it on my lap, fell to the floor. Give it to me. What does it say? A crank note. Some country idiot's playing black hand. Let me read it. We don't like strangers and Louisons, especially New Yorkers. Better be smart and read the train schedule back. There's a return train schedule attached to it. You look as if you were already on that train back. You scare easy, huh? How did anyone know we were coming? Well, that's easy. The real estate man who sold me reintree farms no doubt stuck the item in the local papers. Ah, come on. Shrug it off as a crackpot practical joke. A joke? Do you want me to believe that someone drove 10 miles in the middle of the night to warn us all? Just to be funny? Louison. Louison. Grab that other suitcase. Come on, step on it, kid. Right, sir, step. All right. Easy does it. So deserted, George. Yeah, everybody's asleep. For what do we do? Come on, we'll camp under that station shed. It's nine miles out to reintree farms and we'll need somebody to drive us there. What do you mean, that? Drive you out and waitin' half the night for you. Who are you? Ben. Ben Myers. There's his part to the side of the chair. You said you've been waiting for me. I did. I'm your neighbor. The shack's just around the bend in reintree farms. I thought you and the lady would be glad not to spend the night in the weather. Ah, we're glad, all right. But how did you know we were coming? I read in the papers you bought the old place. But why tonight? Why not last night or tomorrow? How did you know I was coming tonight? I've been waiting last night. If it didn't come tonight, I'd watch for you tomorrow. But I ain't worth the leaking bucket. You coming? Yeah, sure. Come on, Mary. Here's a visit, son. Pay to light my pipe and we'll be gone. Bring your face to the lights, son. I've seen you before, ain't I? I don't think so. You've never been around reintree farms? No, I've never seen a place. I know you should buy a stand. Nobody's tried living in reintree farm not two years. Why? Some say that it's wounded. Some say there's a black curse on the house. You keep asking questions, kid. He'll have you seeing ghosts coming out of the chimney. Not ghosts, son. But courts. Courts. The last couple that tried living in reintree corners stayed dead in the part of floor. I've seen them with my own eyes. Dead. Nobody ever found out what killed them. Now, the minority reintree farms, folks. One kid, grab yourself 40 wings. I can't. I don't close my eyes. George, what was that? Stop the car. It was a bullet. I missed you by inches. Check. Almost a bullseye. Nobody's no slouch with a rifle. What's the angle on this, Myers? You ain't saying. Except the shooting comes naturally to these parts. This is hunting country. In the middle of the night in the dark? Oh, night's light enough for shooting. Folks around here'd rather shoot than sleep. I'm not swallowing that. Somebody tried to kill me. That's a pretty big idea, son. Yeah, well, the idea's even bigger. I figure maybe someone waited along that road in ambush and you fingered me. Maybe that's why you waited around all hours at the depot. You were to drive me to my murder! Reintree farms. How's his up at work? All right. Hand me the luggage, Mary. Thanks for the lift. Your young man ain't thankin' me. He said he's busy turnin' with big ideas. Goodbye, son. I'll be comin' around, maybe. There's some more of your big ideas. Locke, if I ever see you around here, I'll shoot you full of holes on sight! For trespassin'! George. Yeah? About that shot on the road coming here, why would anyone want to murder you? You're a stranger. To keep me away from Reintree farms, I guess. So why if you own it? Why is a big letter, kid? George, you're concealing something. Who are you? George Stretch, your husband. A stranger to me until ten days ago. Who are you, really? Oh, look, kid, you're letting some local crackpot give you the willies. Mary, a guy said something about for better or for worse, just before I slipped a ring on your finger. Was it all a lot of idle talk? No, George. I meant it deep down. I'm sorry. That's more like it. What do you say we forget to spook stuff and hit the sack, huh? Coming? Mm-hmm. The way this joint sure needs a loving touch. And a coat of paint. Now to find a key. No, wrong key. The real estate office nailed me five different keys. George! Now what? Somebody's inside. I see a moving light. Yeah. Footsteps coming to the door. How do you have to miss it? Well, I was trying to get in. What's the shotgun for? Protection? You need it, yeah. I've seen you somewhere before, haven't I? No, you haven't. I've never been somewhere. Who are you? I'm George Stretch. This is my wife. We're the new owners. Who are you? Parker. Willis Parker. I mean, what are you doing here? Squatting. You broke in? No. I moved in. Just like that? Uh-huh. Fand in place. Loaded down with county tax warrants. I bought a tax warrant and I'm in. I don't get it. Squat is right. Go see a lawyer. You mean you won't get out? That's right. On what ground? Look, fella, right now I've got possession of the premises. That's a big chunk of the law around here. I'm not going to stand out here in the dark, arguing it out with you. I'll beat it, fella. Think of Elisa's and the dame. You're trespassing. This is a trick to turn me back. Throw an argument with you. Stop moving. The next one goes right in your bread, back it, fella. And keep going. Mary. Yes, George. Head for the deep shadows and then drop your knees and flatten out quick. I'm sick and tired of being shot at. George, put that gun away. Oh, and I said I'm not heading back with my tail between my legs. Oh, right for me. Who was it that said this was a shooting country? He's dead. Gee, I just meant to nick him. Kill him in cold blood. In self-defense. He was planning to tail us down the road and blow us the kingdom car. George, you're making that up. Just as an afterthought. Am I kid? Who do you suppose took that shot at us driving up here? And that couple found mysteriously dead. The couple old Myers mentioned. Who do you suppose killed them? The whole truth. Why were you marked for murder? I said why was a big letter. You gotta ditch Parker somewhere. Ditch him. Hide him to protect ourselves and forget that it ever happened and go about our business. You're not going to the police? No, I'm going about my business, I said. George, what are you afraid of? You got me confused with the aftermath. I've got to know or I'll lose my mind. Both Ben Myers and Parker I hope they recognized you. You have been here before. Never, I swear, never. They had me confused with somebody else. I'll play along my way for a while. My way is the only way, Mary. Any other way is no good. I'll get that kerosene lamp and follow along. I'm giving Parker Squatter's rights to the first big ditch I find. You stay put now. Come on, kid, dry your eyes. You've got to take the breaks as they come and play along for better or for worse. For better or worse? Murder and burial? How far can we get together now? As far as the house anyhow. That's as far as I want to get. And I don't care how stiff the price is. You get it, Mary? I don't care. All right, now set the lamp on that table, Mary. And stop staring at me as if I were some kind of a man-eating monster. You're getting on my nerves. I'm sorry, George. All right, that's better. Look around you. What do you see? The room is a wreck. Check and double check. The paneling's ripped out. The floorboards are up. Someone started taking the fireplace apart. Brick by brick. What property by doesn't look so good, huh? Oh, what? What does it mean? Mandels always have a field day with an abandoned property. No, it means something else. Check, kid. Parker, hold up here, looking for something. And you're looking for something, too. You're catching on, kid. That's why we're in this forsaken country. That's why you were marked for murder. What are you looking for? A couple of things. One of them's a stiff. A fresh-faced kid who called himself Johnny Murrow came out here about two years ago. He was never seen again. Alive? And you know why, Mary? Why? Because he's still here. My kid brother never left this house. Alive or dead. Whoever bricked up this fireplace and bricked it up the chief. George, if you find your brother, what then? Then I go right for item number two, the jackpot. The jackpot? Don't ray me cash. Money piled as high as the empire's fate. We parlay the corpse into a fortune. I have to go. The hole's big enough to drive a truck through. Bring that lamp over. Closer. Closer, you dummy. Yes, George. See what I see? Wall in as if he was part of the building layout. Meet your brother-in-law, Mary. Help me drag him out. Yes, George. Set him down over here. When he was a kid, he always came running to me when he got into a jam. It was a year's difference, but we were look-alikes. That's why the old man and Parker thought they'd seen you before. Jack, they'd seen Johnny. Who killed your brother? His partner, a hoodlum named Wiley. Johnny and Wiley had pulled a payroll stick about $50,000 job. Wiley tried to double-cross Johnny. Johnny holed up here with the police. Wiley trailed Johnny out here, tortured him for weeks and then killed him. Why? Why did Wiley torture Johnny? To find out where Johnny had stashed the money. But Johnny never told him. Johnny knew his goose was cooked anyway. How did you find out these things? Johnny smuggled a letter out addressed to me through old Ben Myers. The letter said nothing, but said a lot. Small talk, out of nowhere. The letter said nothing, but said a lot. Small talk, everyday brother stuff. Wrapped around two key words. The words were, search me. As kids we used to play treasure hunt with maps. We made up and sewed in the lining of our clothes. A dollar gets you a thousand. Johnny has a map sewn in his clothes. Now you don't have to ask why anymore, kids. But what? Who was Parker? The man we found here. The man who hung around with Wiley. And all the time that's had left. Why didn't you come here sooner? I was busy looking for Wiley for two years across the country in back again in South America, Mexico. Wiley was always one jump ahead of me. I caught up with him a month ago in Tampico. You caught up with him? Well, what did you do? I gave him a dose of what he gave Johnny. And then I killed him. You'd have lost that dollar bet, kid. Same trick we had as kids. Yeah, a map inside his coat lining. You can read it. Sure, like the ABC. That dough was buried in a can five steps from the back door to the barn. Ah, that dough was practically in my hand. George, you'll have to give the money back. Back? Huh? Then give myself up with it, huh? Yes, if you can find McCurry. Then tell Johnny he died like a chump for nothing. And tell myself I was just a sentimental sap dogging it after Wiley right into Tampico. And maybe get down on my knees in front of that ditch out there and apologize to Park if I haven't put a slug in it first. How do you mind? Out of my mind if I listen to you. I'll end a hand. Grab Parker shotgun and watch for intruders while I dig that can up. And then I'll bury Johnny right in the same spot. Yeah, I'll bury Johnny right where he stashed those 50 Gs for his big brother to come and get. Plink is the jackpot. Like music, eh, Mary? Listen to it. Now, look. You see the money, Mary? Green is grass. Just as I dreamed of it for two years. Just as Johnny and I dreamed of it as kids. Green money, green is grass. And nothing under a hundred. You'll see a bank loan with nothing under a hundred before, Mary. Get ya! As I can recollect, I need this, son. What? I've seen small change. Five dollar bill one. I ain't ever seen a hundred before. What are you doing here, Ben? Rejoicing with you, son. I've been waiting and watching a long time for one of you to find that money. I knew it was hit somewhere around here. And I'm an old man. Very much time for me to enjoy my share. How much is your share? I was calculating on the quarter, maybe. And I saw you put Parker away. Right now I'm calculating on, say, half. And what are you calculating on doing with half? I don't know. For sure. Fit myself to something good. Maybe buy myself some more land. What do you say, son? You made yourself a deal, Pop. I'm going to give you all the land you need. You're aiming to kill me. No, it's not. I got to, Mary. I'm not killing the old man when you came visiting. Just now you committed suicide. Get up against that tree and turn around. Maybe if I go back to calculating the quarter. I said you committed suicide. And I'll bury you with a hundred dollar bill in your hand so you can treat yourself to something good where you're gone. Ready? I said you was a winner, son. Yes, I am a loser. So long, sucker. Oh, oh, oh. You fool. You shot me. I had to do it, Stuart. I had to save you from your guilt. You silly fool. I was going to make you a queen. No, Joe. It wouldn't have been that way. After then you would have had to kill me. You see, no power on earth would make me do your way. And no power on earth would make you go mine. You saved my life, mom. How can an old idiot give a thank you? By going to the police, my husband has a confession to make. Oh, poor Mary. It got so she couldn't see the trees for the bodies. You know, until tonight I thought all these Santa Claus came to the fireplace. Well, I guess everybody's doubling up everywhere nowadays. Like George. Mary's bullets left him doubled out. Still, that was a good choice of location. The fireplace for a corp. Sort of how to keep from growing cold.