 through the creaking door. This might be a good opportunity for me to mention that we've been going into business in a small way. Manufacturing various items for faithful followers, silencers for chattering teeth, hair lotion guaranteed to keep your hair from standing on end, a supply of spare fingernails to artificially flavor, and a cream for smoothing out goose pimples, vanishing cream. You can barely send us your name, address, and next of kin. Hahahahaha. Each inner sanctum mystery, Murder Rides the Carousel, was written by Lou Vitus, and stars Miss Leslie Woods in the role of Janie, with Lawson's Erby as Ban. And now to the story of Murder Rides the Carousel. It's no use fidgeting. The lights are up, the music ready, and the painted horses itching to gallop that last mile. Meet Janey, the girl who arms a carousel and who's beginning to get dizzy. Most places have fairgrounds. Out on the edge of town where the land isn't worth much. And that's where carnivals come and stay for a while. And most carnivals have a carousel. Out on the edge of town. Day times it's the kids and evenings you see the lovers on the carousel. And later on it's the married folks. And then the lights start going out all over the fair. And the air is getting cold. And what kind is it then that ride the carousel? There were only two of them. And she was a pretty enough girl. Red-headed, blue-eyed, cheaply dressed. And she wasn't looking at him. But he kept looking at me. Hey, sister. What is it? Don't you get dizzy staying on this thing all night? I'm used to it. This is the last ride, mister. You can't do that to me. Look, the brass ring. All right, you can use it tomorrow. Or else I don't come out tomorrow. Well, I'll give you a nickel for the ring. I don't want money. I want to get dizzy like you. Find out what makes your eyes, brother. This is the last ride. Joe, he's the old man who works the carousel for me. He's tired. He's got to get some rest. Besides, the fair's all closed up. Okay, sister. Come on, beautiful. The lady won't let us ride anymore. Well, thank you very much, Ben-Wade, for talking to me. Ah, climb off your high horse and let's grab. I can get off by myself. And you don't have to come with me. That beautiful is sore. I guess she noticed. Noticed what? Where my eyes were. I've got to close up now. Okay. Good night, sister. I better go find beautiful before she gets lost. But don't forget that I got the brass ring. He went away into the darkness. I put the lights out, sent Joe to bed, and didn't go to bed myself for a while. I couldn't get the carousel out of my head. The whirling lights, the music, and the dizziness. Well, that's absolutely the last time I'll ever go out with... Ben, it's about time you tore yourself away from that cheap little... Ben, I don't like you walking behind me. It's dark and I can't see. I don't like that kind of joke. I can see you and you... Hey, that's a knife. You shouldn't. It hurts. Paper. I guess you have to do something to keep your mind off running the carousel. There's a picture here on the front page. A picture of a girl. Take a look. All right. What about her? She's the girl who was here last night, ain't she? With that good-looking fella? Well, it, uh, it looks like her. Why? According to the paper, Janie, after she left here last night, she was stabbed to death. She was? Yeah. And when they found her, you know what she was holding on to in her right hand? Stop basking me riddles. I'm sorry, Janie. All right, what was she holding on to? A brass ring. I got rid of Joe. I sent him on an errand because I remembered something. I should have done it before. I went to the supply box, the place where we keep the feathers and buckles and buttons for the horses. The place where we keep the rings, including a few spare brass ones. We were missing a brass ring, and I thought I'd better replace it on the arm that holds the ring next to the carousel. I was up on a stool when... Hey, you dropped all the rings. I, uh, I didn't hear you. I'm a very quiet walker. I better give you a hand getting the rings together. You, you don't have to bother. Oh, no bother at all. See, that's funny. What is? There's a brass ring among them. Well, what's funny about that? I thought I got the only brass ring last night. We have more than one brass ring. What are you getting excited about? I'm not getting excited, but I wish you'd get out of here. And what do you do for excitement after the carousel's all closed up for the night? Listen, I'm usually pretty tired. I go to bed. It sounds dull. How about meeting me tonight? Why are you asking me? I like the way your eyes squirt. Didn't I tell you? All right. But, uh, would you mind returning the brass ring? What brass ring? The one you had last night. Oh, that. I don't have it. What'd you do with it? I must have lost it. What's so special about a brass ring? Yeah, all through for the night, Janie. All through? Yeah, you're tired. A little. He's waiting for you, ain't he? Who? That's him standing over there, ain't it? A fellow who was here last night? Oh, yes. I guess it is. Like him, don't you? Maybe. I don't know. Why don't you come over here in the light? Joe, please. All right. Never mind, Janie. I guess he's all right. Otherwise, the police would have been after him. But be careful anyway, Janie. Be careful. I watched Joe shuffle away. Turned the lights out and started walking to where Ben was waiting. Joe was right. The police would have. And then I remembered. He brought her to the carousel where no one else was around. No one had seen him together except Joe and me. No one had seen him leave except Joe and me. And the police hadn't asked us. Ben had a car and we drove out of town in it. The night was soft and dark. And after a while, we got to a roadhouse where there was dancing. And we danced. And then the dancing was over. And we were back in the car and I was very tired and maybe happy. And then I noticed that we weren't going back on the same road. Ben. Yeah? Where are we going? Back to town. Well, this isn't the road we came out on. So what? This is a nicer road. What's nicer about it? Less traffic. Ben had said less traffic. But he was wrong. There was no traffic. Why are you stopping? House. Over there. I don't want to. Why not? Let's get out. Are you scared? No. No. Why should I be? Then get out of the car. What? Oh, all right. Is it your house? No. Well, then... It's all right. I got permission to visit. Yes, but it's so dark. I hear they got electric lights inside. Watch your step. That's yours. No. What's your idea? Well, I'm... Listen, I'm afraid of the dark. Why didn't you say so? See? Lights. Now will you come in? All right. How you stay right here? I got to hunt up something. Ben went down the hall and threw a door at the end of it. The house was very still. I could hear the wind outside. But outside was very far away. I didn't know what Ben was doing and I had to find out. I went down the hall quietly. He left the door open behind him. He was in the room beyond with the light on. It was the kitchen. And he had a drawer open. And maybe he heard me. Because he turned for a minute. And there was something in his hand which glutted in the light. Something... I ran back down the hallway. But I must have been the wrong way because I came to a door and opened it. And all I'd done was get into another room. A room with a moonlight coming through the window. Just... A moonlight. But strong enough to show me a girl. A red-headed girl. In a cheap dress. A girl who should have been dead. And she was staring at me. Out of cold blue eyes. Yeah, try to drink some of this. No, don't, don't, don't. Please don't touch me. Listen, sister, relax. I... I know what you were up to before, but the last thing you did was pass out in here. Don't you know that was because she was staring at me? She? In the corner, over there. There's nobody else in the room in the corner, any other place. Well, she was there. Look for yourself. I'm afraid I... She isn't there, is she? Nah. Now, suppose you tell me who she is. I want to get out of here. But listen... I said I want to get out of here. Okay, okay. Let me give you a hand up. No way you're talking. Somebody might think you've seen a ghost. Ben took me to the boarding house where the carnival people stayed. I said goodnight quickly and went inside and went to my room and got into bed and tried to sleep, but it started to rain. And that kept me awake for a while. The rain and the cold blue eyes of the girl. The girl in the cheap dress who died with a knife. And then I did fall asleep. That is, I think I fell asleep. And I dreamed. That is, it must have been a dream. It must have been a dream. Well, hey. I didn't expect to see you out here in the middle of the night. But with the rain and all, it's ain't healthy. You're wondering what a bum like me is doing out here? Broken around the carousel? I'll tell you. I figured a carousel might be a good place to hide a knife. But you might call a used knife. I found it. Now, don't get excited. I'm running to the cops. What have they ever done for me, eh? But you, I... I figured maybe you'd do something for me. Where'd you disappear to? Now, listen. I can't say you, but you won't get away with anything. You started the miracle round. I'm getting off it. No, no. No, you stay behind me. Don't you manage. Oh, Joe. It's nothing. Nothing, nothing. I just had a nightmare, that's all. It was just a nightmare. I'd forgotten it the next morning. The nightmare, whatever it had been about. I went out, noticing a patch of dried mud outside my bedroom door. But it didn't mean anything. The rain had left the air fresh and clean. It had also got onto some of the horses, and I wiped them down. And the floor of the carousel was muddy from the night before, I supposed. And between customers, I washed the mud off. Except at one place, where it wasn't mud. Where it was a stain. A stain that could have been blood. It was busy that night. And the carousel never stopped. And the painted horses went around and around and around. And I kept thinking of the blood stain on the floor of the carousel, and I wanted a spree. Hiya, Jenny. Don't look so frightened. I got a nickel. Matter of fact, I got lots of nickels. You know what? Please, Ben. I'm going to stay on this carousel all night, and pay for every ride. Unless I'm lucky and get that brass ring. It got late. It got later and later. But Ben stayed on. Yep. This is going to be the last ride. Oh, impossible. Besides, I didn't get the brass ring yet. Well, it doesn't matter. I'll give you your nickel back. I'll give you all your nickels back. No. I want to chance the brass ring. Go get me one. Oh! I went to the big supply house, in the tent where we kept it. And I opened it. It wasn't very light inside, but it was light enough to see the dirty little man lying curled up in the box. And the place where the knife was in it. The place where the blood on the carousel had come from. Well, Jenny? I, uh... I haven't got another brass ring. Is that a fact? That's a fact. Yeah, I think I ought to call a cop. A cop? Sure. Every merry-go-round, suppose I have a brass ring. You're defrauding the public. Oh, you're... You're joking. I've done better. Well, I'll owe you a free ride. Some of the time, though. Who knows when they'll be another time? Joe! Joe, will you stop the carousel? Now, that's all, Ben. Okay, sister. Good night. And, uh... Don't take any wooden rings. He went away. Fairgrounds were dark now. And Ben had gone away. And I was alone, except for Joe and the painted horses. Ben, go off! A young man. A fellow named Ben. You know who I mean. He went off. Why didn't you go with him? Joe, will you leave me alone? All right, Janie. No need for snapping at me. Oh, I'm sorry. Somebody swipe the plumes off in one of the horses. I better get a new set out of the box. No! Ah! I just met not tonight. It's late and you must be tired. Yeah, but the horse... Please, Joe, will you forget about it for tonight? Whenever you say, Janie, I'll go home, but... Well, why'd you stop? It ain't easy to see him in the shadows, Janie, but... But what? He's standing there. Looks like he's waiting. Who's standing there? That young fellow, Ben. What's he waiting for? Oh. Oh, well, it's a joke. He's waiting for a brass ring. I promised him one. Did you? Yes, of course, Joe. He'll be all right. Go on home. All right, good night, Janie. Good night. Joe went into the darkness and was gone. But on the edge of the darkness, someone waited and didn't go. I went to the tent, to the supply box. The knife was still in the dirty little man. It wouldn't hurt him. And I needed that knife, so I got the knife. I closed the box again. The dirty little man might catch cold otherwise. And I was holding the knife in my hand when there was a wind outside. A cold wind that nodded my bones. And I shivered in the cold wind. And the lights on the carousel were up. And the painted horses were turning round and round and round. And on one of them, a girl was right. A red-headed blue-eyed girl in a cheap dress. I started toward the carousel. She had no right to be riding there. She hadn't paid her nickel. I could see her cold blue eyes staring and her red hair fluttering in the wind. And I was like... All right, take it easy. Keep playing. I got it out of a dead man. And I'm not afraid anymore. She can't ride on my carousel. I won't... I don't like you. And now you're going to... Janie. Oh, but please be quick. Be quick, please. Janie, did you know that Joe used to be married? But he thought his wife was two-timing him. But he stabbed her to death. And was committed to an asylum. Joe? He seemed to be all right. They released him. A dried mud outside my bedroom door. Joe was outside my bedroom door. Which means that he was out in the rain. And the little man in the supply box. The police had no proof. They know it was either you or Joe. That's why the corpse was in that house last night. That's why... Ben, look. Look at the carousel. Joe. Stocking the girl. He's got a knife in his hand. Oh, Ben, it's horrible. The two of them alone in the carousel. Hey, come back here. Come back. I killed you for the liar you were. I killed you once. And you went away with your bright red hair and your lion blue eyes. And you come back. And I killed you again. And still you're here. And still I'm going to kill you. And kill you. And kill you. I'm moving in on him. The police. He's following off the carousel. Look, Janie. He's got the brass ring. It touches his hand. That pretty much winds up the sad story of Joe, who went around in the wrong circles. Ha ha ha. Of course, he was a little careless with knives, but nobody can say that he ever stuck a friend. While on Janie's merry-go-round, you might spare a thought for the red-headed girl riding that horse. You might say she was left at the goes. Ha ha ha.