 The Linux show starring Nick Carter, master detective, presented by ACME, America's great producer of fine quality paints. This is the story of a man known the world over, as one of the most daring and resourceful characters in the history of detective fiction. A man whose name has become a symbol of the triumph of right and justice over the sinister forces of crime and lawlessness. A man recognized as one of the great masters of deduction. Nick Carter, master detective. Today's exciting case, the unwritten letter. Another exciting chapter dramatized from the life story of Nick Carter. In just a moment, we'll hear how Nick Carter investigated the strange murder of a man who died with a blank letter in his hand and captured a killer through an interview with a corpse. All work and no play makes Jill a tired housekeeper, but any homemaker can have enjoyable leisure time to spend as she likes, when she depends on the three great Linux home brightners, those efficient new shortcuts to the care of woodwork, furniture and floors, Linux clear gloss, the modern brush on finish, Linux cream polish for fine furniture, and Linux self-polishing wax, the amazing new quick drying wax product. Yes, the three great Linux home brightners are the modern way to save household drudgery. They'll do your work in record time and do it with spick and span thoroughness. So start now to enjoy new leisure. Ask your hardware, paint or department store for the three great Linux home brightners, the efficient shortcuts to new home beauty. Now for today's exciting case from the life of Nick Carter. Breakfast is over in the old brownstone mansion at the corner of fifth and fourth, and Patsy and Nick are on their way into the master detective study to begin the morning's work, when suddenly... Oh, bother, I might have known there wouldn't be any peace today, just when we needed. Nick Carter's office. Miss Bowen, Sergeant Matheson. I hope this is a social call, Sergeant. We've got a whole morning's work ahead of us. Yeah, ask Nick if he'd like to be interrupted. Nick, Sergeant Matheson wants to know if you'd like to have your work interrupted. Ask him for what? For what, Sergeant? I don't think Nick'll settle for anything less than murder. Ask him how he'd like to be haunted this morning. Haunted? Yeah, that sounds interesting. Let's have the phone, Patsy. Hello, Mary. Uh-huh, gotcha, hey, Nick. What's all this about haunts? Some dame called up this morning from an old loft building down in the village. 23 Blaine Street. She claims she's being haunted, not at night, mind you, but during the day. Uh-huh, daytime ghosts. That's the new one. Yeah, she claims they rumble at her all day long. I'm just on my way down there. Want to come along? For spooks that rumble by day, you bet. Meet you in front of the building in 20 minutes. Right. Right. Get your hat, Patsy, and put in a call for the car. You and I have a date with a ghost. This is it, Patsy. 23 Blaine. Golly, what an ancient building this is. It looks as if Peter Stuyvesant built it. There's Mary coming down the street. Oh, good morning, Nick. Morning, Mary. Morning, Miss Bowen. Hi. So Nick wouldn't settle for anything less than murder, eh? I notice you've beat me here. I take it all back, Sergeant. Let's go in and meet the ghost. Who was it called, you, Mary? Oh, some dame named Madam Sear. Uh, that's her name there on the letterbox. Madam Sear. Medium. Well, if that isn't the payoff. A medium afraid of ghosts. And in the daytime. Door's locked. Must be a bell button under Madam Sear's name plate. Ring it, Patsy. Okay, I will. Oh, Nick! To the level of peace. Better get in there fast, Mary. Get your shoulder against the door. Go shooting guns together, Nick. All right, again. What force should you... Careful. Watch out for the debris, Patsy. Right. Come on, Mary. This isn't holding out to be the scullion. Nick! Hold it! Said I wouldn't settle for anything less than a murder, Patsy, huh? Well, you were right. There's a man on these steps. And he's been shot to death. I'm not ready to examine the people in this building yet. I want them to be taken to a room and kept there. Right. York, get him out of here. Yes, sir. All right, all right. Yes, follow the detective there. Go on, follow him. Okay, Nick. Now what's the score? I've searched this man's pockets. His name's Joe Cain. Address and business, unspecified. Uh-huh. We shot through the chest twice with a 45-caliber slug. Died instantly. Yeah? What are those bruises and scratches on the face mean, Nick? Cain was killed somewhere on the stairs. He dropped and rolled partway down. Anything else? Two clues. One fairly unpromising. The other. Very odd. Uh, go ahead. He's got a racing sheet in his pocket. Schedule of some small racetrack in a town-up state. Uh, I've never heard of the place, or the horse is listed. Then again, Nick, we don't know too much about horse racing. And, uh, the odd clue. In Cain's hand was clutched to a large blue envelope right here. Uh-huh. Apparently, the reflex of death made him hold tight. What's odd about that? One thing. There's no address, stamp, or mark on the envelope. There's a sheet of paper inside with nothing written on it. Well, for the love of peace. An envelope without an address? A letter with nothing written on it? But what does that mean? I wish I knew. But I've got a hunch, if we could answer that question, we'd know who killed Joe Cain and why. Well, we know one thing, Nick. It's got to be one of the people in this building. We covered the front door. No one came out while we were going in. That's right. We've already checked the roof. It's sealed shut. No one went out that way. And the back door is bolted on the inside. The windows? All barred with heavy grates. The killer's got to be one of the people inside. Good work, Matty. Now, what about them? Well, there are three floors in this building. Each one is occupied. The first floor, Madame Sear, the ghost fear and medium. The one who called you. Yeah. The second floor, a guy named Charles Dower. Business is yet unspecified. The top floor is Hal Trask. He's a printer. Madame Sear, Charles Dower, Hal Trask. Right. He makes three. Plus the janitor, a guy named Olson, who was sweeping around the upper stairs. I see. All right. Let's go in and have a talk with him. And York's got him in Madame Sear's studio. You're going to question him separately, Nick? No, all together. Right. I've seen him before. I've seen him alive. Either you're afraid to answer or none of you has ever seen him. Now, which is it? You. You, Mr. Olson, aren't you? Yes, sir. Ever seen the dead man before? No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. Yes, sir? Ever seen the dead man before? No, sir. I don't see much of anybody in this building, sir. That is right, Mr. Carter. We are all quiet. We all value our privacy. Hm. None of us prize into these secrets of strangers. We do not peek at those who walk the stairs. We keep to ourselves. Madame Sear, you telephoned a complaint about Ghost this morning? It was a revelation from the other world. I am ashamed of my first fear. I no longer complain. And that's a trask? Uh, yes, sir. Printer, sir. Glow press up on the top floor. I never seen a dead man before, Mr. Carter. I see. Mr. Dower? Yes, sir? Hello. Aren't you bad luck? Charlie Dower served two terms in Atlanta, specialist in card marking and tin horn gambling records. No wonder his business was unspecified, Maddie. Hey, what a memory you got, Nick. I'd forgotten, Dower. He's been out of circulation five years. So here we are. Unknown, Mr. Cain, murdered on the steps of this building by one of you four. All of you claim you never saw the man before. And I have the problem of finding which one of you is lying. Well, not me. All right, quiet, quiet. Well, what's the program, Nick? All these people would stay inside the building. I want to search for the murder weapon. Although I doubt if you'll find it in an old rat trap like this, could stay here hidden for 100 years. Yeah, we'll try. I want the squad to check the history of the building and every person in here. We'll do it. Patsy and I are going to take the car and run up to Taunton, who we're back in a few hours. Right. Why got to Taunton? Because it's the home of the Taunton racetrack. Joe Cain's tip sheet was a schedule of today's races. Maybe we can find out something about murder up there. Just another few minutes, Nick. At times, at Taunton, half a mile. Right. Why have you been so glum all the way up here, Nick? I've been mulling over the case, Patsy. I don't like it. What don't you like about it? The whole thing is a phony ring about it. Three crooks or semi-crooks, all operating in that building. All probably lying as hard as they can. Yes. How did Cain get into the building? The door was locked when we tried it. Either he rang one of the bells, which means the tenants were lying, or he had a key, which means Olson the janitor was lying. That's true. In the second place, what about that blue envelope containing an unwritten letter? Why was Cain carrying it? Well, invisible ink, maybe. Secret message. Carried so that we jump to that obvious conclusion? No, no, no. I doubt it, Patsy. Oh, slow down. Here's Taunton. We'll go through it before we see it. Seems pretty quiet. We're a racetrack town. Uh-huh. I haven't seen anything faintly resembling a track. We'd better ask that youngster over there. Hi, Sonny. Oh, hi there. Yes, you, son. Come over here a minute, will you? Yes, sir. Mr. What's on your mind? Which way to the racetrack? The which? The racetrack. The Taunton racetrack. I don't know what you're talking about, lady. You live here long? All my life. Here, take a look at this. Taunton racetrack. Handy cabaret. Hey, Mr. This is some kind of a gag. There ain't no track in Taunton. We never had a race in this town. Yeah, you're being taken for an awful ride by someone. You're telling us. Nick, this is weird. Thanks, son. Let's get back to the city, Patsy. True enough, we've been taken for a ride. And believe me, it's carried us miles closer to the solution of this case. Nick, I wish it explained. Don't act so mysterious. I'll explain soon, Patsy. But I want to hear now. You will just as soon as I've spoken to Matty. And that's the janitor a few questions. Here we are, 23 blame. Hope Matty's inside. Sometimes you can be so aggravating. Patience, Patsy. Come on inside, now. Nick, oh, for Pete's sake, am I glad you're back. You got a fresh lead, Matty? Fresh lead, fresh trouble. That's what I got. Well, I'll iron it out as soon as I've spoken to Wilson the janitor. Olson's my trouble, Nick. He's just committed suicide. A non-existent horse race, and now the suicide of a key witness. How will Nick straighten out this tangle of events? We'll see in just a moment. The up-to-date way of doing a thing is usually the best way. And you certainly find that's the case when you beautify your floors in linoleum with Linux self-polishing wax, the modern way to perfect floor care. One practical test is all you need to know that here is a quick drying wax, which is really different. Linux self-polishing wax made from a new formula was developed by leading research chemists to give new beauty, new protection, new skid resistance to all your floors. And Linux self-polishing wax contains the greatest possible amount of real carnauba wax. For that handsome, satiny finish only real wax can give. What's more, the underwriters laboratories have proved by test that any linoleum, hardwood, or rubber tile floor is actually less slippery after Linux self-polishing wax has been applied. Best of all, Linux self-polishing wax takes only a jiffy to use, for you simply wipe it on without tiresome rubbing. And it dries quickly to a beautiful luster that's a joy to behold. So choose genuine Linux self-polishing wax one of the finest products of its kind. Ask your dealer now for all three great Linux home brightness to give your home new beauty the easy Linux way. Back to our story. A complaint about a haunted loft building brought Nick Cotter, Patsy, and Sergeant Matheson down to an ancient office building in time to hear, but not witness, the murder of Joe Cain. Curious clue to the murder was an unwritten letter in the dead man's hand and the race track program for a non-existent race. Then the janitor of the building, Sergeant Matheson, announces suddenly is committed suicide. Now Nick, Patsy, and the sergeant examine the dead body. It's pretty careless of you, Maddie. Oh, honest, Nick, how was I to know? I was down in the cellar with a squad looking for the murder gun. When all of a sudden, we hear the shot. We never thought that was true. You'll find a weapon in Olson's hand. Yes, I understand. If I will get your 10, this is a gun that killed Cain. But why should Olson kill himself? Probably thought we were hot on his trail. Maybe, but I'm not so sure Olson did kill himself. Why? Why not? Too pat, too convenient. I've worked on thousands of cases, Maddie. And never yet had a killer give up so easily. But it looks legit, Nick. Bullet wound in the right temple, gun in the right hand. I happened to know Olson was right-handed because I saw him sweeping. There are powder burns around the wound. The gun was fired at close range. Why, the body looks as though it had fallen naturally. Maybe, but I doubt it. I'm going to take the gun back to my lab for a quick check. Have a man sent over the fingerprints with the entire crowd here, Maddie. Right. Oh, any of those reports come in yet about the building of the people? I expect them any minute. Now, wait here for me when you get them. That's it, and I'll be back in half an hour. All right. Oh, and by the way, Maddie. Yes, Nick. How much would you like to bet that Olson never was janitor of this building? Oh, all right. All right, Betsy. There you are. Every print on this gun dusted and brought up an all-up and sharp and clear as crystal. Now what? Now we compare. Let's have that sheet Maddie sent over. Here you are. Thanks. What are you looking for, Nick? Oh, I found it already. It's checking to make sure. Found what? Don't be so mysterious, Nick. Look for yourself, Betsy. Every print on this gun belongs to Olson. You can't miss it. Yes, I see, Nick. Well, doesn't that prove suicide? Think hard, Betsy. What happens when you shoot a .45 automatic? Well, I, uh, it fires a bullet. And then what happens to the gun? It stays in your hand, I guess. Gently, quietly, without a fuss? Oh, no, no, it kicks. Exactly. And would you explain why Olson's prints on the gun are sharp and clear as crystal? Obviously, if he'd held the gun and shot himself, his prints would have been smudged and smeared by the recoil. But they aren't. Nick. Uh-huh, you get it now. Olson was murdered by the same person who killed Joe Cain. And the gun was wiped clean and carefully placed in Olson's hand. That's why the prints are so clear. Oh, that just mixes the case up more than ever. Oh, no, Betsy. It's becoming clearer than ever. Let's hustle back to Maddie. I only hope there haven't been any more murders while we were gone. Hey, Nick, you're fantastic. How did you know, man? How did you know? About the murder? Oh, no, no, about Olson. The reports just came in. You were right, he was lying. He wasn't the janitor of this building. Golly. The janitor of this place is a guy up on the corner. He takes care of this whole row of buildings. And everybody in here was lying when they accepted him as the janitor. I don't think so. This is a dark little place. And the real janitor probably doesn't spend more than a few minutes a week here. Just about. They're all pretty careless. A few times he was seen wasn't enough to make an impression. So when Olson said he was a janitor, he was accepted. But the killer? The killer was lying, naturally. Hey, wait a minute, Nick. How did Olson get in here? Oh, Joe Cain let him in. Joe Cain? The dead man? Yes. When? Probably a few seconds before we arrive. Olson followed Cain into the building. Uh-huh. How did Cain get in? Pretty sure Cain let himself in. How? With a key. Nick, you sound as though you got the whole business washed up and finished. I think I'm pretty close to it. You know why Cain carried that blank leather? I do. And about the non-existent horse race? Yes. And why Olson killed himself? He was murdered. And I think I know why. Well, then would you please talk? One more little test, Maddie. And the murderer will talk in person. What's the test? We've got three people in. Madam Sear, Trask the printer, and Dara the gambler. Yeah. All of them claim they don't know Joe Cain. Well, one of them's lying. And I want to find out which. How? I'm going to make some arrangement with Patsy. And then we're going to meet around Madam Sear's crystal globe, all of us. Holy smoke. More ghost stuff, so to speak. The body of Joe Cain is going to walk into the room. And we'll see who recognizes it. Oh, that's silly, Nick. They all saw Cain's body. There's a tremendous difference between recognizing a living man and a dead body, Patsy. Totally dissimilar people look identical when they're dead. We've had hundreds of cases of husbands identifying dead strangers as their wives in the Morde. And vice versa. It's true, Patsy. I see Nick's point. Those suspects who really don't know Cain will not recognize a living imitation after having seen the body only once. But those who knew him. I get it. I get it. And let's get moving. We'll meet the dead body at seven tonight. We've gathered together in Madam Sear's studio for a last attempt to solve this murder. You do well to trust the world of the medium, Mr. Carter. It is capable of miracles far beyond your mere earthly efforts. Quite. I've requested Sergeant Matheson to have present the only surviving occupants of this building, Mr. Trask, Mr. Dower, and Madam Sear, of course. Miss Bowen, my secretary, will act as witness. Sergeant Matheson will preside. And I'll ask the question. Will you all be seated, please? Everybody down, folks. Come on. I presume you work best with the crystal in the dark, Madam Sear. Oh, that is correct. Lights out, please, Maddie. Right. Thank you. And now, Madam Sear, with your help, we will try to recreate the murder scene in the magic crystal. First, there must be silence. And silence you shall have. The crystal is cloudy tonight. There is much antagonism in this room. The veil can be parted only with difficulty. The clouds begin to vanish from the glass. I see faint lights, faint forms swirling in the blackness. I see a figure. It is a man. It is the dead one. He walks through night followed by shadows. There is one shadow I see with a gun. Sergeant Matheson, I hear it again. The spirit's talking. Oh, for the love of Pete. Oh, do you hear it? The groaning and the rumbling of the dead. And this is what made your telephone this morning? It is heaven's name. Protect me. You hear it. Don't you hear it? Wait. Listen. Someone's coming to the door. Which is the other world coming to us in the name of the dead man. Yes. Joe Cain, all right. I thought he was killed. And that, ladies and gentlemen, winds up the seance in our case. Lights, please, Maddie. Oh, but... No excitement, please. Quiet. The show's over. Is it our? Madam Sear, please be calm. It's not Joe Cain. The alien actor appropriately costumed and made up. What? They both recognized him. They were both lying. Madam Sear and Mr. Dower. Trask never batted an eyelash. He told the truth. Yes, Patsy. And I'd add. It's because Mr. Hal Trask told the truth about not knowing Joe Cain that he'll be executed for his murder. He'll never prove a medic... Oh, no, you don't, brother. A very clever crime, Mr. Trask. And for an unusual racket. Yes, Patsy. You were right. Trask told the truth. He did not know Crain. Dower and Madam Sear lied. They knew him. They'd seen him in the building frequently. But they didn't know he ran the globe print shop upstairs. We figured it'd be better to say we never saw him before. Naturally. Both of you are afraid of the police. Try to keep clear of murder by lying. You didn't know that Joe Cain's racket was printing phony programs of non-existent horse races and that he used these to induce innocent victims to book bets with him. Betts which he pocketed and disappeared with. You're right, Cotter. Cain had a hot racket. We heard about the dough he was making. It was a good thing. So good that you and Olson decided to come up and acquire a piece of his money. A big piece. Only Olson acquired nothing but death. And you've acquired a one-way trip to the chair. In just a few minutes, Nick will be back to give you the final details of today's story and tell you why the murdered man carried an unwritten letter. Dust, finger marks, and accumulated polish all are likely to make furniture look dull and cloudy. So naturally the first step in furniture cares to remove that cloudiness and then give your furniture a beauty treatment with the finest polish you can find. Well, Linux Cream Polish for fine furniture does the whole job at once. Yes, that's right. Linux Cream Polish cleans as it polishes. That means you cut the job in two, save half the time, half the work. That's why so many thousands of modern American women are swinging to Linux Cream Polish, which cares for household things the easy way. See that your fine furniture keeps its good looks with Linux Cream Polish, which restores its original gleaming beauty in one simple process. Because Linux Cream Polish dries hard, it even cuts down future work, for it leaves no oil on the surface to attract more dust. So make it a point to use Linux Cream Polish, which cleans as it polishes. You'll find all three great Linux home brightness, Linux Cream Polish, Linux Self Polishing Wax, and Linux Clear Gloss, the longer-lasting brush-on finish at hardware, paint, and department stores everywhere. And remember that your dealer is headquarters also for ChemTone, the miracle wall finish that brings quick new sparkle to walls and ceilings. ChemTone covers in one coat, dries in one hour. And now let's hear from Nick Carter himself. Nick, I understand the motive for Joe Kane's murder, but what about that unwritten letter? Well, get the picture again. Traskin Olsen decided to rob Joe Kane. They'd heard he was making a fortune out of his racetrack fraud, but neither of them knew him. So, obviously, they couldn't take a chance of Kane arriving in his office while they were rifling the place. So Olsen remained downstairs to watch, while Trask went up to rob. But how could Olsen watch for Kane if he didn't know him? By a simple thug's trick. He placed a large blue envelope in the globe print shop letterbox. All he had to do was watch that. He knew whoever took the blue envelope out of the letterbox would be Joe Kane. When Kane arrived and picked up his letter, Olsen quickly followed him into the building, first signaling upstairs in the buzzer to Trask. Olsen followed in case Trask couldn't get away in time. And, evidently, he couldn't. Right. Kane saw Trask leaving his office. He pulled a gun, the .45 automatic. Olsen closed in from behind. Kane was killed and rolled down the steps. I doubt if Trask ever got a really good look at Kane. Then, as we pounded on the door below, they thought quickly. Trask pretended to be the proprietor of the print shop. Olsen grabbed a broom and played janitor. Golly! But later Trask realized Olsen's pole would be uncovered. So, the first chance he had, he murdered his partner to keep him quiet. He tried to get rid of the gun by planning it as a suicide weapon. But how about the ghost that Madam Sear thought you heard? We heard them, too, when we kidded her into staging a seance. Well, that's the strangest thing about the case. If it hadn't been for Madam Sear's ghost, we'd never have entered the case and never have broken it. And if it hadn't been for the ghost, there wouldn't have been a case in the first place. Why not? Because Madam Sear's ghost was a distant rumble of a new printing machine Joe Kane had just had installed so he could print more of his phony race sheets. I had an officer turn it on to haunt seance. Well, Nick, I hope you have as exciting a story for us next week. What's it going to be? Well, Ken, next week we're going to meet the champion apple pie maker of the East, who, fortunately for me, also happens to be an old friend of mine. She came to complain that her landlord had broken the walls without her permission. Unfortunately, when we arrived, we discovered that the paper hanger had not only hung the wallpaper, he'd hung himself. Sounds like a strange story. What do you call it, Nick? The case of the hanging paper hanger. And now an important message from Nick Carter. Remember what happened after World War I, the inflation and the boom period, then the crash, and the worst depression America has ever known. Now, let's not permit that to happen again. Let's resolve to buy only what we need, paying ration points in full, paying no more than ceiling price. Let's resolve not to profiteer on our own services or produce. And let's buy and keep war bonds to protect America's future and our own. Nick Carter, master detective, is copyrighted by Street and Smith Publications Incorporated. Lawn Clark is starred as Nick. Charlotte Manson plays Patsy. Original music is played by George Wright. Any resemblance in these programs to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental. The entire production is under the direction of Jock McGregor. Master detective is presented at this time and over these same stations each week by the three great Linux home Brightoners. Linux self-polishing wax, Linux cream polish, and Linux clear gloss created by ACME, America's great producer of ACME fine quality paints. This is Ken Powell speaking for the thousands of Linux dealers all over America and saying, so long until next week, this is the Mutual Broadcasting System.