 The American Broadcasting Company brings to its entire network one of radio's most unusual programs. Pat Novak for hire. Pat Novak for hire. Put the sign out in front of my shop says Pat Novak for hire. Down here in the San Francisco waterfront it's gotta be that way. You gotta rob a few graves if you want cigarette money. You need lots of work and roomy sleeves if you're gonna play a pat hand. Sometimes in a good week you can duck trouble three or four days in a row. And then it creeps up on you like an old charge account. Well I should have known that when I went to the bank. I was up to my knees in mud and didn't even know it was raining season. It was Tuesday. I went by the bank to drop a hundred bucks. It was about time because they were beginning to play handball with my checks. Must have been about eleven o'clock when I got to the window. Hello Mr. Novak. Isn't it a grand morning. If it's your choice stay with it. Ah yes. Deposit a hundred bucks. Yes. Let me get your car. It's right here I think. Yes. Here we are. A hundred bucks give me a duplicate will you. Certainly. Why this isn't as big as the last deposit. Look Bloomer girl just mark the slip huh. Oh I'm sorry Mr. Novak. I guess I'm not used to thousand dollars deposit. What thousand dollars your Friday deposit. I wasn't in here Friday. Oh you must have been the card says you put in a thousand dollars on Friday. Give me that card. What did Santa look like. But who put the dough in what the guy looked like. Oh didn't you know look we'll double back and try to hang on this time with you. I wasn't in here Friday I don't know anything about an extra grand. What did the guy look like. I wasn't on duty Friday. Yeah I'm not even sure about the fellow today. There was a man in here to ask about the account. Did this good fairy have a name. No just credentials. He was from the FBI. Is there anything wrong. No don't mind that complexion I forgot my foundation cream. I should have known right then a mysterious grand tossed into the till. I didn't wake up to trouble. But I'm a smart boy who'd be the village idiot in the town the size of New York. Well I left the bank and went up to my apartment. That thousand bucks was already drawing interest. When I came in she was sitting on the couch drinking my whiskey. She could have all she wanted. A nineteen forty nine Panther model. Just the right amount of size twelve in a dress that looked like a well-tailored fig leaf. When she was through looking over you felt like a Sunday supplement. Hello Mr. Novan. I like your car. That's good. The view is wonderful. So is yours. What's on your mind. How about a drink. I'll pour you talk. My name is Connie Riley. Make me want to. Sure as you were saying. My name is Connie Riley. Yeah well I've memorized that much go on. Here's your drink. Thanks. Put it out. All right. Over next to me I won't buy it. It's too bad. Go on. Well. Here's to your new bank account. Look sis if you're here just for the field trials all right but if you got a bill of goods try it out. I will. I want that card too. I want it ahead of Chris. I'll catch up with another drink in the meantime you fill in and help me with it. Stop sitting on your hand. You didn't get that thousand bucks for the sweat of your bra. Not yet. Somebody padded your account so you'd be a nice boy. I want you to be a nice boy for me. At the same rates. The Monterey Rose Docks today a passenger named Kirk Tooney is carrying a jack of clubs. It means a lot to me. It doesn't mean a thing to me except the FBI is on my tail. Mr. Novak you're turning a momentary advantage into a pro ball. You take your deal to some other brover. You're in business whether you like it or not. Pat you're going to stub your toe either way only. To me it'll be more fun. How about the FBI. You're being frightened by a group of bureaucrats. That's what Trotsky thought. How much Pat see. How much for that card when you get it. The price is a grand. You're an amusing guy. Yeah the grand I can afford to be. You don't even know what the jack of clubs is all about. You never heard of Kirk to me till five minutes ago. But you take things in stride. Is it the whole world along do you. Yeah you're like Adam when he first spotted the garden of Eden. All right little Eve it's a thousand bucks. Remember you're sitting on my doorstep. Now either go on home or come in the house. Good. I'll take the card. It's your price. No I can relax. I bet you can. Pour me another drink. Sure in a minute. What comes next. Do I get three guesses. You've got time to take them. I won't need them all. What's up to you. Come here. Ever hear the early bird. Do I make a nice worm. You're wriggled like one. Straight 18 percent darling. That's too bad. I wasn't even going to scream. The next place I live is going to be a cave. Just a minute. Hello Novak. Oh Helman. Oh well. Am I interrupting anything. No we were just going over an old seed catalog. Miss Raleigh. This is Inspector Helman. San Francisco police. Good morning Inspector. Don't bother to arrest me now. I'm definitely easy. So what are you going to do. Bye bye Patty. You can get me at the Concord on push. Be around. Sure. Well. You're slipping Novak. No rain check. All right funny man. What's your problem. You. Ever seen this guy before. There's an awful looking third. Yeah. Who is he your father. Guy by the name of Max Coleman. The FBI trailed him to your bank Friday. I don't know. The FBI trailed him to your bank Friday. They think he gave you a thousand bucks. Yeah. Where'd you get the thousand bucks Novak. What do you care Helman. Maybe a relative. Maybe a maiden aunt. Nobody's related to you Novak. You're in a jam lover and I'm here to push your father in. Max Coleman buys his groceries with foreign dough. What are you weeping about. Arrest the guy if you don't like him. There's government microfilm coming in on the Monterey Rose. That thousand bucks makes you a contact man for Coleman. Send the FBI over then. Where do you fit in waiting for somebody to drop some loose change. You're my project Novak. When they ask us for help I stuffed the ballot box to get you. Yeah. So relax. I'm going to spend the rest of the day here. You're not going to leave the living room. I could spend the day with you I'll take knockout drops. Suit yourself. What's this stuff. That's good Scott you wouldn't know. The cheap flickers out in the kitchen closet. That's for you. All right. Over by the stove here. That's right. What are you keeping here Novak. Mops and broom. Where'd you buy this one. What are you talking about. Where'd you buy this one smart man. I could tell right away it wasn't a mop. When Helman pushed him out he rolled out on a little anoleum. A dapper little guy. Except for a piece of cord around his throat. Tied in a funny knot. He was dead in a broken drum. Somebody pulled too hard on that piece of cord. The veins were standing out in his forehead. His face looked like a roadmap lying around the floor. He wasn't pretty. Helman thought so too. Who is he Novak. Your father. Never seen him in my closet before. Who is he Novak. I don't know Helman. Finders keepers you roll him. Get there by instinct. Here it is. Name is Kirk Toomey. That help. Who is he. The guy on the Monterey Road. The one with the microfilm. I guess. I thought you didn't know anything about it. How'd you know I came from the Monterey Road. My dream book Helman. What happens now. Nothing. Except I'm on the case now and you got trouble in a major key. You don't think I killed this guy. I don't know did you. You better hop out and tell that girl she was making herself at home and I got here. Yeah. How do I know you're not in it together. You don't copper maybe she's low but I'm Leopold. When you're through with her you might hit the Monterey and start looking for a jack of clubs. Some more dream book Novak. Everybody's looking for a jack of clubs Helman. It must be the end of the rainbow. That's where you're going to find that microfilm. In the meantime you stay handy Novak. I want to split you with the FBI. You don't think I'm going to take the rap for junior here do you. It says that in my book. Just relax until I'm ready to pick you up. I only have to find a couple of things. It'll be a long time Helman. You can't find your hip pocket with radar. Yeah. I'll be around soon Novak. Don't bother to pack your bags. You'll be traveling life. Well when Helman left I knew I was a second division club. That phony plan in the bank. The tie up with Max Coleman. And that stiff in the kitchen made me look real bad. I had to do something in a hurry because the way things stood I had about as much chance as a lawn party in a monsoon. There were a lot of bases to tag so. I looked up Jaco Madigan. An ex doctor who invented the hangover. Very good guy. I finally found him over in North Beach a little joint called Lupo's. He was eating pizza with one hand and strangling a bottle of wine with the other. Hello Patsy. Oh Frank. A bottle of wine for Mr. Novak. No I'm short on time Jaco. That's where you're wrong Patsy. People always say it but it's a lie. Will you calm down a minute. You say you're short on time but you have all the time there is. It's the one thing that keeps you from being a beggar. There are only 24 hours in a day and that gives you as much time as Napoleon or Alexander had. Will you shut up a minute and put on that wine. I'm celebrating Patsy. I'm celebrating Mission Day. Mission Day's over. I'm a native son. We celebrate longer. Now look I'm behind the eight ball again. Isn't it getting kind of crowded back there. What's the matter. Somebody strangled a guy and put him in my broom closet. When did you find him. I didn't. Hellman did. There's a girl named Connie Riley looks good for the job. Why doesn't Helman Booker then. He's still picking up the pieces. The dead guy is Kirk Toomey. He was set to smuggle in some microfilm that says here I'm contact. You got to help me Jaco. You got me confused with the travel agency. I want you to hop down a headquarters. Get all the dope you can on this guy Toomey. I'm going to look up Connie Riley. How did she get in the picture. What difference does it make. She's a wrestler I met this morning. That's why I like you pets. You're like a piece of blank verse. A bad piece of blank. All right. I'm going to make like a strip of bacon if I don't get going. Stay close to headquarters. If anything looks good contact me at Connie Riley's here at this address. All right. How many times shall I not love it. I left Jaco and dropped by the apartment. I was smart and full of courage like a field mouse at bay. The police had already been there. I was fingerprint powder all over the two bottles of whiskey were going. They'd moved laughing boy out of the kitchen. So I sat down trying to add things up. I had a short list of friends to see. Connie, Max Coleman and whoever this guy Chris was. I had to show up with one of them or prove that Kurt Toomey hung himself in my closet. I was getting ready to borrow a piece of cord myself on the phone rang. Yeah, I'm thrilled. What's on your mind? What'd you say? Hasn't been there since 10 o'clock this morning. That's funny. How would I know? Yeah, would you find a pack of cards or do you know where to go from there? I thought I did grab that jack of clubs. That's right. A nice, fat deck. You're always too little, too late, Hellman. I just thought I'd let you know, friend, in case you start a bridge game with 53 cards in the deck. Good night. Three carnival in Death Valley. Well, one of two things happened. Somebody got on that boat and took the jack of clubs while Toomey was at my apartment. Maybe he brought it with him. If he brought it with him, Connie was a possibility. Or somebody that got there ahead of Connie. I had to work fast now because whoever had that card wasn't going to put it on a market street float. About 10 minutes later, I cut across Union Square and up Bush Street. When I got to Connie's apartment, it was about 10 o'clock. I got in the back door and started through. She wasn't there, so I went to work looking for that jack of clubs. It was real easy. I tried the desk and met her bureau drawer. Well, I'd like chiffons coming back in style because that's where I found the card. They look nice in there. I put it in my pocket and that's as far as I got. You run the lingerie counter here, Nova? You sound like a guy named Chris. If it makes you feel better. Should we put on the light? No, no. Let's don't put on the light. This gun might upset you. The police are looking for you, Chris. You need more than the dark. I understand they're looking for you, Nova. A wily girl kind of puts you on a spot. Anyone I'll do, though? Yeah, you'll give me $1,000 for the jack of clubs. I started to say $500. Around here there's a whisper, an even grand, mister. You're trying to collect too many places. Want the $500? No, I don't. All right. But I think you're a bum business, man. Jaco found me catnapping on Connie's bare rug. Must have been right after the sapping. When I woke up, Jaco was thumbing my head like a housewife with a bowl of margarine. I fell around and waited for him to put the floor in again. I reached in my pocket. The jack of clubs was gone. Then I started to talk. Jaco, did you expect someone better? Help me up, will you? I've helped you get up so much I feel like one of the right brothers. I just lost round three. Yeah, I saw him getting into the car. Did you get a number? Like Hellman's got yours. Here it is. Let me see. Anything break down at homicide? They got all the dope onto me. They had to piece it together. He had no fingerprint record, and they finally confirmed things with a set of false teeth. What does it prove? Nothing much except you probably killed him. He's a foreign agent who picked up microfilm at Shanghai. Your girlfriend is pretty. Did they find her? Yeah. Dead? No. Patsy, you've got to stop thinking of people who's being dead all the time. It's demoralizing. What'd she say? She denied knowing anything about to me. Jaco, I'm sure she killed that guy up in my apartment. I'd stake my life on it. Expertly put, Patsy. I think Hellman believes her. No, she's the only lead. What about Max Coleman, the guy that rigged my bank account? Are they letting him die on the vine? I was getting to that. Your friend Max Coleman has disappeared. I thought he was being tailed. The kite got away. Here, use my aspirin. Well, I took a boat out to the Monterey Rose, but that was a wasted time. Hellman had it covered like a tarpaulin. I still had the license number to Chris's car, but I didn't do any good. Even if I found him, all I could do was point my finger. There were still a lot of things that didn't fall into place. One of them was, how come that jacket club was so easy to find in Connie's apartment? She hadn't hit it very well. But after all, maybe that was a habit with her. Things didn't look any better the next morning. I went into a restaurant next to the press club for some breakfast. Michael was lying on the counter. We were in second place because it was a torso murder all over page one. That second cup of coffee saved me. Because right after that, I spotted it on one of the back pages, a picture and a small story about some unidentified guy who'd been killed over in Oakland. I couldn't match the picture too well with Hellman's snapshot of Max Coleman, but it looked like my best break so far. I got over to Oakland and I went straight to the morgue. And the morgue was chatty. Which fellow you want to see? The unidentified guy who must have come in last night. Sure. Down this way. Okay. How do you like our morgue? One of my favorites. It's bigger than San Francisco. Yeah, I figured that. Sure. Most people don't know that, but it's true, bigger than San Francisco. Here we are, right here. Help me slide it off. Sure. Roller bearings makes it a lot easier. Yeah. Here, let me get that sheet. All right. Recognize him? Yeah. What time did he die? Coroner's report here on the tow tag. About 11 o'clock last night. Two gunshots. 38 caliber pistol. That's good. Don't look good to me. Was he a friend of yours? Relative, something? Yeah, a relative. He's my maiden aunt. It was Max Coleman, all right, but that was only half the problem. I had some of the answers, but not enough. It's like trying to weave a rug with a spinning wheel and a bucket of sand. Well, anyway, I got to a pay phone and I called Jaco. I told him to run down that license number, and I headed back across the bridge. When I found Jaco, he said the car was registered in the name of Christopher Downs, who lived up on Taylor Street. Now, that was enough of a lead, so I telephoned Hellman. Took about a half a minute to draw a map. Hello, Hellman talking. There's Novak. You still got Connie Riley down there? No. When did she leave? That was smart, Hellman. Why? You better put a guard in her front door and get up to 720 Taylor Street, the apartment of Christopher Downs. Who's he? A late entry. Now, climb out of that coma and get going. I'll meet you up there in 10 minutes. 720 Taylor Street? Yeah, it's up on the hill. That's good. When Jaco and I got up to Downs' apartment, there was nobody home. I said a fast prayer for Connie and I began going through Downs' stuff for a 38 caliber revolver. Jaco was looking too. Over in the liquor cabinet. That's as far as we got. Cabin's your hunt, Mr. Novak? Hello, Chris. You haven't seen the 38er on? Just one. It's in my pocket. The same one that killed Max Coleman? You're going to run out of breath. Novak, slow down. I'm in second already, Mr. I can't stop. Then you won't mind a short ride out the door and on the back stairs. Should we bring the lap robe? There's nothing to worry about. It's a short trip. You won't even have to wire the folks. We went down the back way and into the garage next door. We started for a big car in the corner. All right. Get in. Out the airport road, Joe. Sure. Now relax, Novak. From here, you look like a duck in the pond. All right, Joe. Watch out, Joe. Joe, watch out. There's another car coming in. You're right, Chris. It was a short ride. You all right, Novak? Stop acting like the mother hen. Hellman, take this guy's gun. All right, Mr. Get out. Who is he? Christopher Downs. He killed Max Coleman last night. Does he convince you, mister? Not entirely. Well, at 38 will, the Oakland police have two slugs that fit that gun. You need more? No. I'm afraid you've got all the trumps, Novak. All right, let's go, you. Let's see you earn it, copper. Stop him, Novak! He ain't going far. Stop him, Novak! You can arrest him for jaywalking. Yeah. Too bad. He could have told you a lot about that stuff in my closet. Well, go pick him up, Hellman. Don't forget that jacket club's in his pocket. It worked out all right. I left Hellman, dropped by headquarters to leave a note, and I went home to my apartment. Connie was there, whiskey was out again. She looked real good sitting there in a white, crepe dress. It was one of those tight-fitting babies that make a bathing suit look like a toga. I told her all about Chris and Max Coleman. And we forgot about everything but the Olympics. When she put her arms around you, it was a real squeeze. It felt like an old tuba shaving cream. I was pouring a drink from the doorbell ring. Hello, Hellman. You ready, Novak? Sure. Well, don't stand there gaping. Arrest her for murder. Wait a minute. Slow down, Patrick. Sorry, Chum, it's you or me. Be a nice boy. I am. That's why you go to Hellman. Come on, lady. You dig up an answer for that guy that you left in my closet? I didn't leave any guy in your closet. You left to say it louder, baby. They found the store. You bought the cord. That cord came out of your kitchen. You can put that in both ways. How did you know? They're the only ones that have taken their jacket clubs here in this apartment. That and one other thing. Yeah? That knot in the cord was a funny knot. You've got an elastic garter there. Too big so you tie the knot in it. The same funny knot that choked Kirk Toomey. You're a funny guy, Novak. Yeah? You're nice, but you're hard to handle. I should have killed you and married you. Ready, Hellman? Jack of Clubs is a phony right from the start. Somebody told Kirk Toomey to deal with me. When he came to my apartment, Connie was waiting. She got jumpy and killed him. I got there too soon, so she had to stall me off. When she got home, she found out that the jacket clubs is a phony. She left it in plain sight, and Chris gobbled up the bait. When he discovered there was no microfilm, he went gunning for Max Coleman. Max was an innocent thief lying low, waiting to buy it for me. So all three of them were after the phony card. I began to suspect it was phony because everybody hung around. If it was the McCoy, Connie would have cleared out. Same for Chris. The microfilm? Well, it was in Hellman's desk, but he didn't know it. Jaco finally tumbled. The report said that Kirk Toomey had false teeth. When Hellman picked up his stuff on the ship, it was a tube of toothpaste. You know, clean false teeth with a toothpaste. Word must have gotten around that the microfilm was inside that jacket club, so Kirk crossed them up and put it in a tube of toothpaste. Well, that's all, except they canceled my $1,000 deposit. Hellman said it was lucky I noticed it guarded. Lucky? Well, she had it straight in her seams, didn't she? The American Broadcasting Company has just brought you the second of a new series, Pat Novak for hire, starring Jack Webb. Jaco Madigan is played by Tudor Owen. Inspector Hellman is played by Raymond Burr. Music was composed and conducted by Radio and Television Life Award winner Basil Adloom. In our cast were Betty Lou Gerson, Victor Farron, Ted DeCorsia, and Her Butterfield. Today we're happy to welcome a new member of the ABC family, a station K-A-R-M in Fresno, California joins our network. And now this is George Bellamond reminding you to be with us again next week when over most of these same ABC stations we'll bring you Pat Novak for hire. This program came to you from Hollywood. This is ABC, the American Broadcasting Company.