 My name's Regan. I work for Anthony J. Lyon, International Detective Bureau. They call me, The Lion's Eye. CVS brings you Jeff Regan, investigator starring Frank Graham as Regan with Frank Nelson as Anthony J. Lyon. So stand by for mystery, suspense, and adventure in tonight's Jeff Regan story of The Lady by the Fountain. A block above Wilton, North Hollywood Boulevard, there's a street called Taft, and the first dirty gray apartment house on the right-hand sides where I pick up my laundry, 428. I'm finishing out the lease for a guy who's up at San Quentin waiting for the second week in December. That's what the state's gonna help him forget a blondie never should have remembered. Well, it's a place to live. I've got a leaky faucet and a bed that comes out of the wall. And that's where I was last Monday morning, about six o'clock when somebody began pounding on the door. I figured the place was burning down, but it turned out worse. My boss, a couple of hundred pounds of black cigar stuffed into a blue suit. Regan, it's me, The Lion. Here's a nice morning, the sun's up, the birds are up. What are you doing? Just hoping somebody drop in. What do you want? Hey, get your pants on. We've got lots of work to do. This is gonna be a busy day. The last time you threw that line, I spent six weeks in a hospital. You're always suspicious of people. You should learn to trust your fellow man. You can't go through life not having faith in people. Follow my example. Every man is my brother, Regan. And if you figured there was a buck in it, you'd sell him to a chain guy. And I'll see you here. And you'd be the first one to turn him in if he got loose. That kind of talk doesn't set well with me, Regan. Remember, I have you under contract international and I hold your bar. You can let loose anytime you want to. It's no season pass to come in here in the middle of the night. Now, now there's no need for you when I'd argue. I guess I'm a bit edgy. Been up all night long. Uh, mind? Yes, I do. As I said, I've been up all night long. Thanks. Regan, somebody got Tim Vickers, Vice President of American Casualty Company out of bed at three o'clock this morning. He was at the same party with you? Hey, don't get old Tim out of bed unless there's dough involved. I looked into it. Headquarters tells me that a guy named Albert Colby made the call, lives out in Bel Air, fine family, oil. Put it on the road. I wish you'd buy better stuff. Well, last night, Colby got himself married to a tomato named Francis Sheenard. Somewhere around midnight, the new Mrs. Colby and 50 or 60 other guests are heisted as nice as you please. And the police are working on it. Goodbye. No, you and me, we're working on it. When they call American Casualty, that means whatever was taken was insured and they've got their own manner. And it means they want it back bad enough to start paying a reward to anybody who can find whatever it is. And it means the insurance company and the police department will be working on it and they don't want anybody's all sticking their nose in. Oh, those cops can't pick up reward money. And neither can those company guys. Now that leaves you and me, Regan. Any international can use some extra dough. Try the Morris plan. I got a better one. You hop out to Colby's and get some details. I'll hang around headquarters and see what kind of story they've got. You set them up, but they never come off. If we find out what's gone, who took it and get it back, we've made rent money. Yeah, I haven't had my breakfast yet. Hey, what's the matter, Regan? You look worried. I am. That's my only bottom. Oh, you got nothing to worry about anymore. Here, it's empty. Well, the lion only got as far as D in the alphabet. That's when they showed him how to spell dollar. And this Colby thing had a dollar sign in front of it as far as the lion was concerned. And that means it's no use arguing. So I threw on some clothes and drove out to the Colby place. It turned out to be a lot of brick and grill work on top of one of those canyon roads right after you turn off sunset into Bel Air. When I drove in the gate, I got a feeling somebody better check with London to see if Buckingham was still there. Two guys in uniform stopped me. I showed them my license, they let me through. I parked in the driveway behind three police cars and started looking around for the lady's entrance. That's when I spotted a tall guy in a brown sport coat sitting on a cement bench right by a fountain. Up close, he looked sad, like an umpire on a rainy day. Yes, what can I do for you? I'm looking for a guy named Colby. Are you from the police? No. Insurance company? No. But we don't want any reporters hanging around here. All right, I'm no scribe. Now, can you tell me where I can find Colby? What do you want to see him about? You're him. Yes, I'm Albert Colby. My name is Regan, International Detective Bureau. What does that mean? Look, I've been through a very hard night, Mr. Regan. I learned a lot of things I didn't know before. What kind of things? The police tell me that when a group of jewelry is stolen that it's more or less kidnapping. It's held in ransom until it's brought back. And that the procedure is to wait to be contacted by one of the thieves. That's one way. Yes, so I understand. It also can be broken up, disassembled and sold on the market. Yeah. Very interesting and very sound economic structure. I'm surprised at the ingenuity of criminals. A lot of people are. You want to tell me how it happened? The man from my insurance office also told me there'd be uninvited private investigators around. And he told you to keep quiet until he went to work. In a word, yes. You want the stuff back, don't you? I do. But I believe the police and insurance company to be reasonably capable. Just a minute. You're wasting your time, Mr. Regan. Good morning. He was right. I was wasting my time. The lieutenant in charge made a statement a half hour later that told me no more than I'd got from the lion. It was easy to see they wanted to sit tight and wait for a contact. They were playing at Koi. And I gave up after a couple of hours and walked out and got in my car. That's when I met her. A tall blue net with equipment to match. She looked good in that, Sable Co. But she did look good in the fish net. She didn't waste any time. She climbed in beside me. I own one Cadillac and two Buicks, but they're all on the fritz. You can help me a lot. Want me to buy you the super chief? I want you to drive me to Wilshire and Fairfax. The cab boys might think I'm cutting in. Look, I don't know who you are, but I've been up all night answering questions and talking to a lot of nosy cops, and I'm tired. Be a good boy, huh? You were here when it happened. Do I have to go through all that again? If I take you to Wilshire and Fairfax, you do. All right. Mind giving me a name? Regan. All right, Regan. I'm Francie... Francie Colby. I'm not used to the name yet. Best wishes. For what? Isn't that what they say when you get married? Yeah. You ever met him? Yeah, in your garden. Doesn't talk much. Birds that way. What do you want to know, Regan? When it happened, how they did it. I'll tell you my story and you pick out what you can use. Let's hear it. It was two hours after the ceremony. Everybody was out in the garden for the reception. I don't know where they came from, but there were three of them. What did they look like? They were tall, wore masks. One handled a gun and lined up everybody, and the other two had pillowcases. They went down the line and took everything that glared. Strictly jewelry. Anything big? Twenty thousand from the rest of them. I was queen. Hmm? I was wearing a thing called the Colby Group. Necklace and bracelet belonging to Bert's mother. What price? Hundred thousand. There'd be a real payoff on that. Oh, so that's your angle. What else? How'd these guys get away? They backed out, tipped hats and left. Fourth man in their car? No. No, one of them went ahead of the other two. Anybody go after him? That's why I couldn't drive myself. All the cars were jammed. Phone lines got neat. I suppose so. Is that all you wanted to know? Enough. Tell me, what kind of friend of you got who drives a green coupe? I haven't got any friend who drives a green coupe. Neither have I, but he's been following us ever since we left your place. What? Now look, I'll stop at this next corner, jump out and run into the drugstore. You'll have to follow me. You're a nice guy, Regan. I hope you make the great on this. Now. Solo. She made it to the drugstore, and he stuck with me. I turned right when I hit Santa Monica Boulevard, and that's when he began playing games. His front bumper tapped my fender and I pulled over. He crawled out of his car. Heavy man in a suit that didn't fit him around the middle. I didn't like the way he smiled. What do you think of the new Mrs. Colby? Nice girl. You a friend of hers? No, no, never met her, any. You never met me either. That's where you're mistaken. Your name's Regan. You're within the National Detective Bureau. You worked for the lion since you had a job. What did I have for breakfast? A lot of chalk from the lion about the Colby case, right? You follow me just to tell me that. I wanted to make sure you heard it. Real sure. Well, you can unwrap your bumpers and get moving, Buster. I don't listen easy. That's what they tell me, Regan. Yeah. My name's Wonders. I got that badge four years ago. It's his American Casually Company on it, and right next to it, there's a license that makes me one of their investigators. Right now, I'm working on one of their cases. You're wasting a lot of time. No, you're wasting the time, Regan. This is a one-man show. I'm handling it. I don't want any private peepers snooping around trying to fall in the cracks. You talk like you got it all figured. I got so much of it, there isn't any left for you and the lion. You really know that much? I really know that much. Name me three hoods and black masks. I'll have their files by six o'clock tonight. Show me some important stuff called the Colby Group. I'll have that too. Are they going to close it on talk? Regan, I went to a lot of trouble to make sure you understood that you're not wanted. There's nothing in this for you or the lion. No reward, nothing. You're not wanted. Clear? Yeah, so clear. I'm taking your license number right now. From here, I go to 3,500 Hope Street City License Bureau. They're going to tell me if you're what you say you are. But no matter what you are, if you get my way, Buster, I'm going to look you up. And if you want to keep your arm, get it off of my car. And I checked on him. He was with American Casually Company, all right. And a phone call to their office told me he'd been put on the Colby thing. So I gave up on that one. It was like trying to do a toe dance in a pair of hip boots. It was about six o'clock when I got to the office. The lion was there. He looked unhappy, like somebody had fed him a wax sandwich. Where you been? I've been phonein' all over town for ya. I went to a double feature. I met a guy named Colby and a girl named Colby, their husband and wife. Well, that's standing. That's just great. You can forget them all. It's finished. We struck out. What do you mean? No one happened in Chicago this afternoon. Want me to guess? A cop threw a couple of slugs into a bimbo named Mickey McIntyre. The other guy, Swede Swanson, gave up right away. Tie it up. Mickey and Swede were carrying some of the ice they heisted from the Colby place last night. They talked. And the guy Chicago's looking for now is named Pete Florio. Some gum shoe around Chicago's gonna tag him and there goes our reward. Where'd you get all this? Robbery detail here was in on it. So it was over for us three hours ago. Any expenses after that are your own. And in the future, Regan, don't spend all day on a thing. Shut up. What did you say? He was looking at the same thing I was looking at. The three bullet holes across the front of the man who was standing just inside the door. The heavy set man with a bad smile. He wasn't smiling this time. He was trying to talk. Oh, Regan, I got it all, but you, I get better than me. Who is it, Regan? What's he doing? Edwin is an investigator for American Casually. He in on this? He was. What do you mean? He's dead. The whole Colby thing looked as foamy as an undertaker in a pink derby. Colby and his wife, Francie, had a lot of conversation, but they didn't say anything. But the insurance investigator, Edwin, is talked like he had something. Only didn't get a chance to tell his story. He fell in our front door, loaded down with slugs, and it didn't take 20-20 vision to see that all the action wasn't gonna be around Chicago, where they picked up two of the three hoods. The land didn't waste any time. He locked the door and pulled the shades. Then he turned around to me. His eyes looked like Regan, this is a stroke of luck. We're in business again. You got it wrong. The coroner's office got something to do now. Look, we aren't calling up any office until we find out who killed Winters and why. You're out of your mind. Remember, there's a reward for that Colby stuff, and we can still collect with this insurance-covered guy out of the way. This is homicide now. Call him. And let some rookie walk into the answer? Not on your life. Regan, somebody here in town's in on this. Big, and you're gonna find out who. What about him? He isn't going anywhere. Listen, we're the only ones who know about him. We can keep a secret for a while, and that gives us an advantage. He had a secret. He didn't play it smart. Do you realize what this can mean to us? About five years at Folsom. Let me worry about that. Don't you ever give up. Find out who bumped Winters, Regan, and we won the cup. You'll have to give it back. You cheated. Once the lion smells a loose dollar, there's no sense arguing with him. It's like trying to teach ballet to a herd of elephants. Well, I went through Winters' pockets, found a billfold, and a driver's license. Some keys. Nothing that had helped. But downstairs, his green coop was parked by the curb. The front seat was wet and sticky, but there was a notebook lying there. The single name Frank Kilmer was scrolled on the top page, and below it, Pink Lady. That didn't mean anything either. Then I took it with me when I went back out to Bel-Air. I found Kobe off at the fountain again. He read the opening line. Hello, Mr. Regan. What do you want now? Information. All right. Here's something up to date. They caught two of the three men in Chicago this afternoon. I know that much. And the Chicago police expect to arrest the third one, uh, uh, Pete Florio, any minute. And when they arrest Mr. Florio, that will be the end of it. You make it sound easy. Facts of facts, Mr. Regan. There's another version. What is that? Inside work. I don't know what you're looking for, and I don't think I particularly care. I'll just ask you to leave these premises and not bother me nor my wife anymore. Hello, darling. I didn't know we had company. Ah, Francis, sweetheart. This is Mr. Regan. I was just telling him I didn't like him. Hello, Mr. Regan. Have you heard the news? I'm going to get my jewelry back so things aren't so bad after all. That's what Brooklyn thought today. My you sound vicious. I've met him twice, darling. He always sounded this way. He doesn't think the police will apprehend Pete Florio. Do you, Mr. Regan? You're a long way from the end, Kobe. Well, if he feels that way, Bird, and it does happen to work out that way, you'll buy me another bracelet and necklace, won't you? Of course we do. Now, Regan, you can see how worried we both are about this whole thing. I'm certain there's nothing more of you to do. You're wrong. I got two things to do. Yes? Find out who Frank Kilmer is, and look up the Pink Lady. Good night. Just a minute. You'll have to swing wild in the preliminaries. Corbyn is why I figured it'd be in on the main event. I started with a phone book. It didn't turn up a Frank Kilmer, but it did show a Pink Lady nightclub in San Marino. It wasn't much. It was a little pale guy playing piano in one corner. Figured he'd never been out for a music lesson. I put the question of the bartender. Nope. Never heard of a guy named Frank Kilmer. Just got here from Cheyenne, myself worked at the front here for four years. Nice play. Yeah, sure, sure. Anybody else Mike Known? I don't know, Pelgrim. Why don't you ask somebody? Ask her. She's a cigarette lady. A kitty? A kitty? Yeah, Tom. Oh. This is Mr.... Regan. Yes, Mr. Regan. He wants to ask if you've ever seen a guy named Frank Kilmer. He don't know what he looks like. Oh. See? She don't know. Tom, why don't you go crack some ice? We've got plenty of ice, kitty. Enough ice to last long. It's going to be a hot night. Beat it. Oh, all right, kitty. All right. And the music, baby. You know the other guy, Mr. Regan? Maybe. What'd he look like? He had a name, and he paid for his information. Yeah. His name was Winters. It was around this morning knocking on my door. What do you want to know? What do you want to know about Frank Kilmer? Go ahead. I'm listening. Wait a minute. It's Frank in trouble. He's a name on a scratch pad to me, lady. I don't want to get anybody in any trouble. Just tell me what you told Winters, okay? I met Frank two years ago. We used to go out once in a while. Then a little over a year ago, we didn't. What happened? He met somebody else. Yeah. He met somebody else. Who? A singer named Francie Schaener. Mm-hmm. They picked up together, Frank and Francie. They were lousy, Regan. I hated her. Then what? They went over to Las Vegas one night and got married. When was this? Over a year ago. I haven't seen them since. But I saw Francie in the paper last week. All about her marrying some guy named Colby. What Kilmer do for open money? Money? I don't know. He had money sometimes. Sometimes he didn't. I lend him some. Why? Does the name Pete Florey mean anything to you? No. Should it? Mickey McIntyre? Sweet Swanson? Thanks, Angel. This helps. Regan, you meet lots of people. Maybe you understand things. Like what? Like why she'd take him away from me and then not use him. Why would a girl do a thing like that? I don't know. Maybe she did use him. I was beginning to shape up by the time I left her. But I needed more to go on. The old telephone book gave Francie, Shana, the new Mrs. Colby, an apartment address near Fairfax and Wilshire. I took a chance she hadn't moved all the things out yet. It was on the third floor, right next to the fire escape. I pulled out a ring of skeletons. The third one did the trick. All the stuff was still there. Some of it packed. Some of it just spread around. In a desk drawer I found a copy of an Nevada divorce action separating Francie and Kilmer. And in the bedroom a picture. Tall, dark-looking guy I'd never seen before. It said, Love, Frank. I was still looking for things when I heard the front door open. I clicked off the light and waited. He was a tall black shadow to me. I couldn't see his face. But that 45 stood out like a ward on an egg. This didn't come near me, but I had better luck. Spun him around enough to start him back down the hall toward the fire escape. I had to take cover. I got to the fire escape in time to see him run out of the alley and jump in a car. Whoever it was, he was carrying one of my slugs in him. The place was beginning to crawl with people. I went back inside. I figured I'd better check with the lion before I started explaining to the cops. I'm calling from a roll apartment. I was looking through his stuff when somebody began throwing lead. Shut up and listen. I hit whoever it was, but he got away. The cops will be here any minute, and I'm going to have to do some explaining. And when I tell it, they'll want a story from you about that stiff in your office. Now look, Regan, we're about at the end of this thing. What do you know? Francie once had a boyfriend named Kilmer. She married him, divorced him, but that doesn't... Kilmer, not Frank Kilmer. Give it to me. Meet Floreo has an alias. It's... Frank Kilmer. I left my card with a skinny guy in blue pajamas so they could find me for the quiz games down at headquarters. It took me 10 minutes to get out to that house in Bel Air. I parked outside the gate, walked through the garden with a back. Somebody had drained the fountain. Somebody was sitting there, and it wasn't Colby. It was Francie, and she had a big hurt. Regan. I'll have to get a doctor. Do... do later that. Who did it? Pete Floreo. He thought I tipped Chicago, but you don't know it. I know you were married to him, and his name was Frank Kilmer. I know you worked this thing out with him. You killed Windows. Who's that? This is no time to lie. All I know is Pete and I were at the heist. I wore the jewels that night so we could get it. Only he didn't take it. He hated the fountain here. Yeah, so Pete could come back for it after he straightened out with those other guys in Chicago, huh? Yes, but it didn't work that way. Where is it? Did Pete... So bad, and they're not making that model anymore. Don't move your fingers. Playing service good from Chicago, Pete? The best. I've been living back in 24 hours. You get around too, don't you? What's your name? Regan. Regan, I'm going to plug you. You're making all kinds of mistakes tonight. My mistake was tying in with Francie. First up a hundred grand to stick that knife in her. Now I don't know what this stuff is. Somebody else had a part. Wait till you try our gas chamber. Turn around. Now, stand real still. That's it. I want to watch your collar wilt. It was Colby. One hand was hanging like you'd never use it again. The other one was doing all right. He just kept on. Pete grabbed for the bench, then slid down and shook all over a couple of times. Like I was saying no in a big way. It was finished. He was going to shoot you, Regan. He was going to kill you. I did right, didn't I? I did right. Yeah, yeah, you did fine. You saved the state some expenses. Give me that gun. Yeah, here. Same one you used on Munders? Yes. He came to me for money. He found out the same thing I caught you finding out. My own wife had planned to steal from me. How did you tip to her? A week before we were married, I saw Floreo. Kilmer, whatever you call him, watching the house. I'd seen his picture in Francie's apartment. I found what they were planning. I listened in on the phone. And you wanted them to get away with it. So you could get the stuff out of the fountain before Floreo got back. So you could stick the insurance company for the payment. I didn't think you needed dough that bad. Regan, it wasn't for me. It was for her. All she wanted was money. Now look at her. Regan, all I wanted was her. I didn't care if she stole from me. All I wanted was her. Anne and I spent the next 36 hours at headquarters trying to explain away that stiff in our office. It didn't explain easy. But they began to listen better after Colby showed them where he hid that necklace and bracelet after he took it out of the fountain. Chicago police told us their tip-off had been on a long distance call. And that's breaking that part out. Colby tipped him. He'd been hoping that Pete and all of them would get shot up in the pinch. Well, it didn't work that way. When I got back to the office, the lion was sitting there. He looked sad. Like a derby entry with a broken leg. Regan, I just got terrible news. We aren't going to get a reward. I knew that when I turned in Colby. The stuff never left the premises. Oh, we fouled out on a technicality. And I worked so hard. Sitting here with that stiff must have kept you real busy. It's your fault. You should have let Florio or Colby or somebody walk out of there with that stuff and then nab them. There's money all you ever think about. What else is there to think about? If you got it, you're okay. If you haven't got it, you're a bum. Well, you can find somebody else to go around trying to make a gentleman out of you. I quit. You what? Oh, now, now just a minute, Jeffrey, please. Let's, let's not fly off the handler. I'm just upset. That's all. I'm not myself. Yeah. Why, international couldn't get along without you? I couldn't get along without you. You're like my own son. I'm an old man, Jeffrey. You sure are. The rigors of the business, the scars of the battle are heavy with me. Jeffrey, I need you. Oh, sure. You'll stay? Yeah. Good. Here. Stop by American Casually on your way home. Give this to Tim Viggins. What's for? For two days work. Even if we can't collect a reward, we got something coming. You'll never learn, do you? That's a legitimate bill. Didn't I stand guard over the body of one of their agents all day long? I charged them union, right? What? The poor bears are organized. It's a branch. What's the matter, Regan? You look worried. I am. I'm just wondering how they're going to explain you and the time capsule. Jeff Regan, investigator, written by E. Jack Newman, directed by Sterling Tracy, is heard at the same time each week over these same stations. Frank Graham plays the title role. Frank Nelson is Anthony J. Lyon. Original music is by Richard Aron. Be with us next week at the same time for another story of suspense and mystery and adventure with Jeff Regan, investigator.