 Murder by Experts. The mutual broadcasting system presents Murder by Experts. With your host and narrator, Mr. John Vickson Carr, world-famous mystery novelist whose books have been translated into 17 languages and have sold over 10 million copies. And author of the recently published detective novel, The Lower Suspicion. Good evening. This is John Vickson Carr. Each week at this time, Murder by Experts brings you a story of crime and mystery which has been chosen for your approval by one of the world's leading detective writers. Tonight, our guest expert is the noted mystery writer, Max Ehrlich. From the thousands of thrillers he has read and enjoyed, Mr. Ehrlich has selected an adventure of that first moving, humanish young detective couple, Susan and Johnny Deuce, written by Andrew Phillips. And now we present Anne Shepard and Larry Haynes in The Unseeing Witness. The name's Deuce. Johnny Deuce. You know, it's a funny thing. In the movies and on the radio, private eyes are always big, handsome, two-fisted guys working day and night on confessional cases, collecting heavy seas and beautiful blood. Me? I'm five feet seven. And if I don't land the first part, I usually end up on the floor. The cases I get? Well, they're not sensational and they barely pay a cent. And there's never a beautiful blonde car. Maybe I shouldn't say that. I'll take that morning last week. I was sitting right here in my office when the door was open. And the door was open. It was a blonde alright and beautiful. She stood there for a moment and we just stared at each other. She crossed to my desk and then slowly and deliberately fixed me. Then she got down to business. Johnny, it's a curse to the money. Yeah, I know. We've got $54.23 from the bank. I know that. Johnny, you'll never guess who I bumped into yesterday. The last person in the world I ever- Inspector Ross. Where'd you bump into him, baby, in his office? What is this business knife that you have? Johnny, I'm sure it'll give you back your job on the floor. No, Susan. Can't blame a girl for crying. I know things are tough like this, but I'll- Well, okay, what are you doing here? Oh, come on, Susan. Johnny, you've got to help me. No, what's wrong with you? They've arrested you. Oh. What for? Murder. Oh, Susan, I've been going crazy. So did he come home all night. They called me from the police station a half hour ago, but they wouldn't let me talk to them. Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait a minute. Say, now, one thing at a time. Who's the murderer? DeVal. Crazy DeVal? Uh-huh. Is it DeVal who owns the Pelican Club? It's DeVal. Well, why do they think DeVal did it? I don't know. When he left the house last night, he said he was going to the Pelican Club. Why? Well, DeVal asked DeVal to handle a lawsuit for him last night. Oh. Didn't he know DeVal was a mobster? Yes, and that's why I wanted him to get out of it. Oh, didn't he? That's why he went there last night. All right, all right, now get hold of yourself. It's one thing to bring a murder charge, and a slur, and it's a six. Now, you just sit tight. I want to get to the Pelican Club before the cops and Inspector Ross, in particular, mess up the evidence. No, Johnny, this is one case that's open and shut. Ah, that's what you say about all of them, Inspector. Yeah. Well, this time I can prove it. Well, look, would you mind letting the Duchess and me look over the room where DeVal was killed? Not at all. I threw this doorway. This is Duke's and mine porpoise. Doc didn't do his examination. Oh, no. I'm used to them. That Bill Carson's a friend of mine, Inspector, I can't believe he's a murderer. You don't have to take my word for it, Johnny. Hey, Kelly, bring Benedict in. Benedict was DeVal's manager, he'll tell you. Would you want to see me, Inspector? Yes, Benedict. This is Johnny Duke. Tell him what you told me a little while ago. Well, a fellow Carson came into the club last night a little before midnight. He had an appointment with DeVal. I told him in here, and I left the club. This morning when I knocked on the door, it was unlocked by Carson. DeVal was lying on the floor, dead. That's that, Johnny. Tarleton was here all night. Doc, you finished looking at the body? Yes. Preliminary examination shows that death occurred between 4 and 6 in the morning. He's charged by some case. You mean his house strangled, Doctor? No, there are no bruises on his throat. Apparently, he was smothered. An autopsy will give us his answer. I'll have it for you in 24 hours or so, Inspector. I'm a little busy. That's all right, Doc. No rush. Couldn't someone else have come into the office during the night and smothered the house? No, that's impossible. Johnny, take a look at the lock on this door. It can't be opened from the hall, right? Yes, that's right. Uh, what's in the next room? That was DeVal's bedroom. There's one window in here and one in there. Neither of them's been opened. A dustbin threw that. Now, you tell me how anyone could have gotten in here last night. Go on, darling. Tell him. Uh, I'm afraid I can't. Of course you can't. May I, uh, go now, Inspector? Uh, just a minute, Senator. He's, uh, empty champagne bottles in the wine bucket from these two glasses. When were they served? Oh, um, yeah, just before I left last night, I had one of our men bring them up. Then you weren't the last man to see DeVal last night? Well, uh, not exactly. Well, you've got to sort them in before I shoot you. You get the man of service. I assure you, he doesn't know anything about it. Go ahead, do as Mr. Doke says. All right. Just a moment. Johnny, don't you ever get tired of asking questions. Of course not. Why, if Johnny hadn't asked me the way to town, I swear, we'd be new over town. We'd never have known. Here's the man who served the champagne last night. Uh-huh. Oh, for hell, if it isn't Melvin. Johnny, do. Johnny! Well, how are you, Melvin? Say, where have you been since I last saw you? Well, I, uh, found myself up against the gun to try to fit the machine through a five-yard to Sleepy Hollow. What would he say to you? Oh, oh, he says he got served five years at the state prison in Clinton. Oh. Oh, Melvin, Melvin, this is my wife, Susie. This is Melvin Maloney. Better known as Melvin's the muscle. Well, he's quite a twist in the twirl. Oh. Oh, Johnny, why don't you ever say things like that to me? Uh, say, Melvin, I, I understand you were the one who served the champagne last night. Yes, that's right. Well, tell me, what happened? Nothing. Mr. Benedict Haynes had told me I'd take some knocks on the door. The bell opens up, grabs the bottle of sparkle, and shuts the door. I hear him rock it. What else do you know? Well, that's good, Johnny, aren't it? I wouldn't hold out on you. Well, Johnny, what do you say now? Well, I'm not going to say anything, Inspector, until I hear coffee stories. Hello, Bill. Johnny. Susan, how did you know? They told us. They worried you. You all right? She was nearly out of her mind when she came to the office this morning. She must have been poor, and they told me to talk to her. They'd call us. Bill. Bill, did you kill the bell? I never wanted to kill anybody in my life. Did you kill him, though? I don't know. I don't know. All right. All right, I'm here to help you if I can. Now, tell me what happened. Well, I was working on a lawsuit for the bell. Yeah, I know about that. What happened when you went to the pelican last night? Hank is always waiting for me in his office. I told him I was going to quit. Handed him the papers I'd been wanting to give him my bill. Then what happened? Well, he tried to talk me into staying on. While we were arguing, someone knocked on the door and brought in a couple of buckets of champagne. We started drinking. The bell got mean. Yeah. Finally, he took a poke at me. He missed. So I kept him on the counter and knocked him out. But what happened next? I don't remember anymore. I must have gone into the next room and passed out. And no one came in during the night? I don't know. I told you I passed out. When did you come through? This morning. Someone knocked on the office door. I got up and... I liked it. The key was on the inside? Yes. And I opened the door. Benedict was standing there. The bell was... called on the floor. Yes. Is that all you can tell me, Bill? That's all I know. How do you think it looks, darling? Well, trouble is you haven't told me anything that breaks down the case against you. Mountain will find a way. So long, Bill. So long, darling. Thanks. Goodbye, Bill. Hello, darling. How are you going to do? Can you help him out on me? I don't know it like this. The best thing to do it is to go home and sleep over it. If Bill didn't do it, then it's the perfect murder. My name? I woke up to find my wife. Tell me. I was working on a theory. Oh, it doesn't work. Well, I'm grateful for that. Now I'll go to sleep. I can't sleep. I keep thinking of Wolf K. and Bill. I'm glad I asked you to sleep with them. Yeah, I guess so. Now that was a test of two. Ha! I can remember when you used to do everything under the moon to keep me out until two o'clock. Engine trouble out of gas. Flat tires. Emotion of the batteries. Darling, you never could have explained to me what emotion of the battery was. Oh, there ain't no such animal, baby. Then you just made it up to keep me out. Did I know what would come of it? Now go to sleep, please. I can't. I... Oh, Chris. We cannot leave this all. All right, all right. Stay where you are. I'll get it. All right, take it easy. Can't you see I'm coming? Darling, let me... Why are you shaking? Come on, come on, come on. Hello, Mr. Sookham. Sorry, Chris. Is that a new dance you're doing, Marvin? No, it's... All right, all right. Now stand still for just a second, Marvin. Who was it again? Oh, King. This is Marvin. This is Chris. I'm happy to meet you. All right. Darling, I'm as good as up to hand. What? Yeah, honey. Three messes ride me out to the meadows, giving me the kill all the way to the cross with Army, and they was doing the song. Johnny, what's he saying? Oh, three men took Marvin for a ride, but he managed to escape. Really? He was a nice man. No, we need the truth. Marvin, uh... Who's putting a finger on you? The big pay or... Oh, now wait a minute. How could DeVal put you on the spot when he escaped? You're guffin' it wrong. DeVal is the dressin' to pay off his Benedict. Benedict? Johnny. Oh, uh, Marvin said DeVal was only the front for the Pelican out, but the real brain is Benedict. Well, maybe Benedict had something to do with DeVal's mood. Yeah, it's an angle. Now, why would Benedict want you out of the way, Marvin? Well, nothing. I'm gettin' the torch around. A short con like me don't cut the score with him. I'm crackin' a straight line to clock around, so one of the pointin', I guess. Darling, translation. Uh, Marvin said he can't understand why Benedict wants him out of the way. He has his torch. Well, even if he did, who could understand him? Uh, Marvin, Marvin, are you sure you've told Papa everything? Now, would I flip a flyby like you to Roddy at a time like this? Mm-hmm. Marvin, this morning, Benedict forgot all about the campaign in the office. Then he didn't want to tell me who brought it. Now, why? I don't know. You can put me to bed with his shovel if I'm old. Yeah, I know, I know. Maybe you're being taken for a ride has a connection with the murderer. Yes. Maybe Marvin knows something, or he doesn't realize it. Of course. And Benedict is sure that he might wake up to it, so he sends him for a ride. I don't know. This might be it. I tell you what, Marvin, you're staying here until you remember what Benedict doesn't want known. Oh, I already told you everything. I know, aren't I? Marvin, what you need is to be psychoanalyzed. What? And I'm just the one to do it. Let me talk to him, Johnny. Well, nothing else ain't the way. What do you say, Marvin? Anything you say, Johnny. You and the Mrs. is back to back. Strictly seein' I got the smore power. The smore power? Who's even trouble, baby? And it might be Captain. Oh. I hope your insurance policy is here in order, dear. Marvin, think hard. It means so much. I'm practically blowin' a fuse. Well, he says that's red when he thinks, but he doesn't say a sentence of any value. We've been quaking in you for two hours now, Melvin, and all we get is the same stories. I run the bottle of sparkle to the office, knocked on the door, to gallop and grab shots locked- Oh. Yeah, well, that's what I've been telling you. Johnny, can't you make these twists to take that lamp out of my eye? I just blinded me. You think I was down at headquarters? Well, I'm only trying to make you feel at home. Yeah, besides, Melvin, I thought you said you were once under police willing for 36 hours. I was, only it wasn't like these twists. They were nice to me. Well, I didn't do just as nice as the police department. Here, you can have another retail. Well, you say. Johnny, come away from the window and help us. Uh, I've set a very nice view from here of one of Benedict's men watching our fuck. Oh, I knew it. I knew it. I'm bein' miles. Let me see him. Oh. Oh, it's the Ripper. I'm as good as up to hand. I'll have nothing real safe. Johnny, you don't have the count on Benedict. He knows more than old Hepps young. Well, Johnny is pretty bright, too. Well, I want you to get as far as the $4.20. You must be sayin' goes on livin' on time for it. No. Yeah. Well, I want you to make it that time. Here. Here's a change. Oh, thanks. Thank you. Oh, hey, Johnny, she's puttin' the lights in the eyes again. Now, when you start singin' for Kay, I've got to do some shopping for dinner. Well, get to make class, will you? Well, like I was sayin', I run the bottle of sparkle to the office, knocks on the door, the valve grips. Malcolm, are you sure there isn't something you haven't told us? Well, I guess. I've got a girl in Jason City. Johnny, come over to the window. The men watchin' the apartment, they're gone. What do they know about that? You think Benedict is givin' up time to get married? Not Benedict. That bloodhound never gets up. Oh, that must be season. How am I supposed to? I wonder why Benedict called his girl as well. Johnny, it's him. He's come to plant me. Hello, Benedict. Come on in. What do you mean, Mr. How are you, Melvin? Well, I'm all, I'm all, I'm all good. All right. No, no, no. You came up with a little song? I thought you might possibly straighten out the sort of misunderstanding between us. I'm talkin' to my good face. I've withdrawn the men who were watchin' the apartment. Am I supposed to be grateful? Come now, Mr. Duke. Give me attitude to take them. I'm willing to let bygones do bygones. Can't you forget what's happened? You mean that ride you gave, Melvin? I'm sorry about that. And my boy's a little overzealous with performance of their duties. You know I wouldn't hurt you, don't you, Melvin? Just give a week's take to see me sort it out. I assure you, Melvin, when I learned what the boys had tried to do to you, I was shocked. I only wanted to make a man. Yeah, would've just... Why did the boys take Melvin on a ride? They caught him taking money if it didn't belong to him. Of course, what they wanted to do was far too bad. I never swirled to tell. Uh, you couldn't want Melvin so badly because he holds the key to Vow's murder. Because you know he can send you to the chair. You're wrong. Why am I on personal reasons for wanting him? You're gonna give him up? No. Duke, um, some of my boys were anxious to tear this place apart. That's not the way I would. You're going to hand Melvin over to people. You'll have a long way. You'll wait just as long before you see your way. My wife's fast. That's my size when I bump into her this evening. And there's two blocks in here. I've decided to become my house guest for the time being. You're going to do dirty lots of... He'll lay a hand. Easy, Johnny, speak. If I'm not back at the Pelican Club in half an hour, the boys have been stuck. You can't get away with it, Benedict. I don't scare easy, Duke. Give you 24 hours, think it over. When I get Melvin, you get to wife fast. What are we going to do? Hours have been walking the throne outside the world. Melvin, Melvin, you know Benedict. Where's he likely to hide to? Well, he's got to hide out in Westchester. To where, Johnny, that's it. No, no, no, no. Who are you? Well, but nobody knows about it, Johnny. Ah, he's probably counting on my visiting there. By no Benedict, he's probably trying to outsmart me by keeping a right at the Pelican Club. Yeah, yeah, he is foolish, Rick. Now, Melvin, I want you to draw me a layout of the Pelican. I'm paying a visit to it. Oh, no, Liz, and Johnny, you've got to take me with you. That place is big and full of rippers, and it's got more internet than I could tell you about. All right, you can come with me. But I'm going to. Uh-oh, no, no, okay. There'll probably be trouble in 20 hours. Oh, please, don't make me say this. I've got to go crazy. Please, please. All right, all right, all right. We can keep the motor running for six days. Let's go. That's all right. I do it, Johnny. I suppose Benedict has a place for you. Yeah, you take it. All right, come on. The first take is the silence you learn. You've got to do it, yeah, yeah. You keep it sharp. Look out. Probably got a couple of the boys on their own side. I'm watching. I'm getting it to you. That's one of the boys. Hey, what are you doing? You can powder them, John. Yeah, sure. I went to the special services school. Now, tie them up while I can explain to them how I'll take care of him like he was up till. He's one of the rippers that took me on the business. Yeah. There you are. Okay. Got to get the lock on his door. Yeah. This mess is wrapped up for him. There's a couple of games there. You know, when I drove five yards to Sleepy Hollow, I had a bunk. A bunky that could open any lock there was, except of course, the one on the cell door. I thought I'd got it for that. And that door leads into the hallway, doesn't it? Yeah, it leads through the door. Marvelous. I wish we'd make the tape stop there, eh? I'll put them in the pot. All right. Come on, we're going into the hallway. What was that about? I picked some powder. Let's see. There's a wine bucket here, but I didn't spill nothing. Which empty? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Really? You know, come to think of it, the one's in the Val's office where I see two. I don't follow you girls. Melvin, when you were in the Val's office with the inspector, I remembered the taste of those wine buckets when you drive. So what? Was it the ice in the bucket when you started the campaign? Sure, sure. What happened to the water? What water? Uh, look, look, Melvin, when ice melts, there's always water. Yeah. Yet the morning the murder was discovered, those buckets were dry. Oh, they were dry, Melvin. What was it? It was dry ice. Now, don't be funny. No, no, no. On the level. Dry ice. Why dry ice? Well, when Melvin did give me the bucket with the campaign, he said we ain't got no regular ice. Dry ice would just evaporate, leaving no trace behind it. So that's what accounts for the bucket being sent to the inside. Melvin, I've got the answer. Yes? Well, tell it to me. But come on. Yeah, later. Later, later. First, we've got to find the gut. Come on, Melvin. I need to go in the hallway now. Walk lightly. I'll keep you slow tonight. Tell it some lights out under that door further down the hall. That's where the mob hangs out. Uh-huh. Have a look. They're in there. Oh, I get it. Do you need some water? That's the toughest whip that you ever like to keep on. Try it from the open. I'll give it a care, Melvin. So I can take a look. Okay. Ah, here we go. We go up to your fence. Okay, I'll see you. And raise the door button. The way you say it, that's it. Oh. Melvin, you can scare me out by then. I'll see you. Ah, full house. Full of cars. Ah. Ah, good girl. Look at them and weep. They flood. And they freeze. How do you like that? They're humanized in you. But they do? They're five dollars' worth. Oh, Dad. I say. And, Mike, you can return that ace you just slipped into your pocket. You're accusing me of taking less than you did, Darilla. If you don't return that card, I'll bust you one right in the ticket. I had to be intimidated. I'm in a country's charge. And if I find only fifty-one, Mike, you'll be die. I'm very, very sorry. Well, what do you know? Here's an ace on the floor. Now, isn't that same? Then right by your chair, too. It's my deal. And I suggest you boys dig up a little more coin at a realm. Oh, and, Mike, you, uh, money. What's good? It sounds from here like a card game, Janice. He's similar, all right? Thank you. And what I say to the rest of you will be promised. Let us play poker. Oh, listen, Janice, it would be them necessary to read you with a leg. How are you going to spring it? Well, I'm going to be off to where they hit the floor. I don't know if we're not the lights. Well, I look real as if throwing it around. I'll fall around. Janice, someone's coming this way, huh? If he lets out a piece, it's up to him. All right, all right, all right. I'm going to meet him. Is that you, Mike? Oh, why aren't there some lights on? Oh, oh, let go, I can't. Oh, oh, oh. He's dead, isn't he, Janice? Yeah. He's out cold. Bring him over to the children room. I'm going to take him out to the car. I'll get back in a second. Janice, too risky, alone. Why not? Go ahead, go ahead. Go ahead, go ahead. Okay. But the guys for them guys will need to turn on the TV. Don't worry, I will. I'll stay with the kids. You know, Janice is a rough man, you know, I'm planning on. At least the boys can show up before she can see you. I'll see you, boys. I know who you are. So, come out the floor. Somebody's out the window. I don't want to see Janice go. I think I got a hold on. I got you, I got you. Come on. I don't want to go. Come on before I ring you. I'm back. Oh, hold on me. I'm back in the door. I got a hold on the door. I got a hold on the door. Oh, you're crazy. I just got a hold on the door. Oh, all right, wait, wait. Put on it. Put on the window. This way to you and out the back. Johnny, I think they're coming after us. Okay, I have the car ready for a first-hand. All right, let's get back to work. This way. Come on, Johnny. Get going, pet. All right. Yeah. And get out of here. Johnny, no one said you solved the murder. Yeah. Look at where you've tried to do it. Oh, all right. All right. You can take us to headquarters. They're going to exchange Benedict for Bill. Johnny, how did Benedict kill Duvall? With dry ice, baby? Dry ice. You see, the champagne buckets Melvin delivered to Duvall were full of it. After Bill knocked Duvall out and went into the bedroom, the dry ice evaporated into carbon dioxide, say. Duvall regained consciousness but fell asleep on the floor next to the champagne bucket where his body was found. Carbon dioxide is heavier than air and it's made a layer on the floor of suffocating gas. Duvall breathed it in and died of suffocating. Well, if Bill hadn't been in the bedroom, you would have... No wonder Melvin was so valuable. He was the only one who knew that Benedict gave him the dry ice. Yeah, that's what I was telling you. I learned the bottle of sparkle for the office, knocked on the door... Oh, no, not again. Uh, Duchess, Duchess, would you mind telling me why you didn't want to leave? Just now I practically had to carry you out of there. You certainly did. Why couldn't you have waited a few more minutes? I was ready to choke you for about a minute when you did. But why? Oh, Johnny, I had four aces in my hand and two in my pocket. Well, we turned Benedict over to Inspector Ross and he very reluctantly released Bill Cross. The inspector's a man who hates to be proven wrong. Can't go back to him, they did it so nicely I didn't have the heart to ask him for a seat. Fortunately, the Duchess still had clutched in her hand $250 of the money she'd won playing poker. Well, after giving her a lecture on the evil for gambling, I took the money and paid up. And that concluded the case for the unseeing witness. The moral? Well, as the Duchess said, two aces never hurt. And so the curtain falls on the Duke and the Duchess and the case of the unseeing witness, which was chosen by guest expert, Matt Eric. Mr. Eric is author of the nearly published novel, The Big Eye. Next week at this time, murdered by experts brings you a story of two men who pitted their wits against each other. One, a professor of psychology. The other, a big-time expert. That's selected for your approval by Brett Halliday. Until then, this is your host, John Vickson Carr, hoping you'll be with us again next week at this time. Unseeing witness was written by Andrew Phillips. In the cast were Larry Haynes and Shepard, Bill Zuckers, Joyce Gordon, Kermit Murdoch, Lawson Cerby, and Roger DeCoven. Music is under the direction of Emerson Buckley and was composed by Richard DuPay. Murdered by experts is produced by Robert A. Arthur and David Koch. Last done by speaking, this is the world's largest network serving more than 500 radio stations, the mutual broadcasting system.