 From Hollywood, it's time now for Edmund O'Brien as Johnny Dallas. Oh, what's that? One of our company investigators has been killed. I think you knew him. Gene Reimer. Gene Reimer is dead. Yeah shot to death We learned of it this morning. Send him down to Charleston to look into a murder. Is his wife no yet? She was with him. I mean she went to Charleston with him. We want to put somebody right on it Johnny That's why I called. Oh sure Bob. I'll come right over and get the rest of the story from you Edmund O'Brien and another adventure of the man with the action-packed expense account America's fabulous freelance insurance Investigator yours truly Johnny Dallas Expense account submitted by special investigator Johnny dollar to home office Plymouth insurance company Hartford, Connecticut The following is an accounting of expenditures during my investigation of the Leland Blackburn matters Expense account item one two fifty cab fare from my apartment to the Plymouth building Hey Johnny. Yeah. Oh, hi Merle. What is going on here for the gene Reimer shooting? I wondered if it heard. He talks a lot about you. You were good friends We learned the business together in the Pinkerton agency almost opened our own office. It didn't pan out I wish it had we're gonna miss him around here. He was a great guy. Yeah, Bob Lowe is waiting for you Merle I'd better get in there. Sure. Good luck Johnny. Thanks. Hi Bob. Wouldn't have blamed you if you turned it down. I get it. I feel pretty awful about it I gave the case to Gene myself. He wasn't up for one, but there would have been some extra money for him I knew he needed it. He didn't have to take the case. He didn't have to earn a living this way The funny thing for you to say there was no other way to look at it You can't hunt trouble forever without finally running into some I got the idea that you were his friend I was but you aren't hiring a friend Bob You're hiring an investigator. If you want me to go to work on this, I'd better get some facts I don't understand you. What about the case he was on? You said it was murder? A policy holder named Leland Blackburn was bludgeoned to death in his home How long had Gene been on it? Less than a week. Five days. Had he sent in any report and what he'd learned? No, he had. Is that all? That's all I know He was staying at the Hotel Lee. His wife is still there. As I said, she'd been with him I suggest you talk to her first. I will. I'll leave as soon as I can get plain space. All right, John. Good luck Spence account item two eighty five dollars transportation between Hartford and the Hotel Lee in Charleston It was 8 30 p.m. By the time I checked in and my first move was to the phone Mrs. Johnny Barbara The floor above you the Plymouth company sent me down to look into Gene's death. Oh I'm glad you're here, Johnny. When will I see you? As soon as possible Well, give me just 15 minutes to put a face on and come on down I can't tell you what a shock it was to hear your voice on the phone. I I've been thinking about you. Oh It was natural to you've been the only one I turned to when it was trouble How did the company happen to send you because I knew gene I guess was Anything said about us? There was no reason for that Everything between you and me stopped when you got married We'd better keep it that way now Sure It was a beautiful marriage all the way around. I told it would be you remember that yes If there was a side of gene rhymer that hardly anybody knew you didn't believe me I learned too and you made some pretty serious statements to me after you did I want to get that off my chest before we go any farther I don't know how many times you told me that you were afraid you're gonna kill him for what he'd done to you And you meant it Didn't you Johnny the last time was less than a month ago. You don't think I killed him I remember what you said Johnny don't Why did you come to Charleston with him because he made me come why because it I don't want to tell you why not it doesn't have anything to do with what happened then you shouldn't mind telling me He found out about Somebody I've been seeing in Hartford I know it sounds cheap, but you must realize never mind that gene brought you down here to keep you away from this guy. Yes Johnny you can't think I killed him. I hope you didn't for old times sake. I'd hate to learn that you did They were good times Johnny. Why do you know about the case gene was working on nothing? He never talked about any of them I'll start on it tomorrow. Good night, Barbara I Spent the night in three two dollars cab fare the next morning the police headquarters where I met lieutenant sims the officer in charge of both killings Yeah, looks to me like a pile of load of work on your shoulder's dollar You signed a both murder chances out that they go together, don't you think hard to figure that far yet Well, what have you got on his lilin blackbird and file isn't complete on him The widow and son refused to authorize an autopsy took a few days to force it through so we got an old report Who was he an old codger a pillar of the old south so to speak He was a broker him and his son roland pretty wealthy folks. What do you think was the motive? Well, we're thinking it was robbery. Nobody knows how much but old lilin's wallet was empty when they found it He just told the phone operator. He wanted the police when he was hit phone was still in his hand Well, I'll have to go and talk to the family if yourself Now this other hardwood man likeable kind of fellow, you know him. Yeah, I I know gene for quite a few years Makes it bad when it's a friend, don't it doesn't help Do you have anything on his death? Well, absolutely nothing He was shot three times a close range with a 32 caliber gun All three slugs went through him and smashed up on a brick wall behind him Spoiled him for ballistics why that happened in an alley off magazine street And that's why we can't figure any connection between that shooting and the blackburn killer You know this town. Well, why no blackburn set foot in that magazine street section They live at the other end of the town south of broad street. That's a whole lot closer to heaven. I can tell you that Well Thanks a lot lieutenant looks like I've got a lot of cold trail to follow so I better get moving Later that day after checking my phone to learn when the sun would be home I went to the blackburn residence It was a warm friendly estate glowing with southern tradition The same thing could have been said about the widow mrs. Blackburn But son, rollin must have taken after his father What I resent most of all is that you are here simply because you suspect you the mother of me or both of us of nefarious Plub now rolling isn't that right murder is a hard thing to ignore mr. Blackburn I am not ignoring it, but I believe our local police are quite able to do what must be done I just think you'd be interested in having as many people as possible working to clear it up Naturally, I want to see my father's killers brought to justice But I don't think father would appreciate the Importation of investigators from Hartford rolling, please I came here primarily to investigate the death of the first hearted man I'm afraid you'll have to put up with me until I satisfy myself that there's no connection between your father and that Possible connection could there be I don't know there isn't any If I hear of you dragging the blackburn name into a sordid murder in that part of town I will personally thrash you to within an inch of your life Rollin, I must insist I think perhaps that if you left mr. Dollar and I could conclude this meeting much more rapidly Don't you have an appointment someplace? Don't you forget what I said dollar I won't Oh, I must apologize mr. Dollar. You don't have to The loss of his father has been a great shock to him And I must say that other young man who was here as pleasant as he tried to be did leave us with the impression that he suspected us One doesn't say things like that about the blackburns It is an extremely proud and moral family. I understand I don't want you to think that I now mr. Dollar What do you want me to do? Well, I think you've probably been asked these questions by mr. Reiner, but if you'll bear with me, of course ah Were you here the night your husband died? Yes I was in the other wing where our bedrooms are. Rollin was there too But he came down to the kitchen That's through there And found poor Leland Neither of you heard anything no I had my radio on I remember But even so it is quite a big house. It's a beautiful house Mrs. Blackburn Do you have any idea who could have done this thing? Any enemies of your husbands? I knew of nobody who disliked Leland He was a charitable honest man and a pious one I'm sorry. Mrs. Blackburn. I won't bother you any longer My only hope is that I may join him soon Mrs. Dollar Lieutenant Oh, yeah, what have you been up to? I've been out to see the Blackburns. How did you reconstruct the killing out there? Anything to make you think there was more than one killer? The son He was a little agitated at my being there. He said killers What's that? He said he wanted to see his father's killers brought to justice plural What would make him say a thing like that? That was a stand to start worth anything as evidence, but I thought I'd tell you Really at that moment it meant there was a possibility that Roland Blackburn knew more than he was saying I spent another two hours trying to find something to strengthen that possibility The financial condition of both the family and their brokerage firm I got no place with it But I returned to my hotel with the feeling that that one slip was going to develop into the link to connect Jean's death with the Blackburn investigation The feeling lasted only a few seconds after I met the man who was waiting for me outside my room Mr. Donald, I'm Hal Brand. I'm the hotel detective here. I think I'd better talk to you. What about? The woman down on 413, Mrs. Reimer. How'd you find out about me? I've been keeping my eye on her. I saw you go to see her and checked on you I had an idea that insurance company would send somebody else Why have you been watching her? Her husband paid me to. I guess there was something wrong between them Yeah A man showed up to see her the day the husband was killed. I didn't get a chance to tell him, but I thought I ought to tell you Who is he? Richard is his name George. He's in the Clemens hotel up the street He checked in from Hartford, too In the room, Brand. I want to hear the rest of it. Yeah, there's much more This Richard showed up at the Reimer room about one the afternoon. Reimer was out, so I didn't get to Then he was shot that night about 10. Maybe it don't mean anything You know where Richard is now? He checked out this afternoon, took the 540 plane in New York Let me pour you a drink, Brand Sure You know, old man's a fool to marry a woman as beautiful as that. It always means trouble. That's my personal opinion, anyway My wife says obvious and that's as far as it goes Here you are Thanks Have you told this to the police, Brand? Not yet Why not? Oh, I'll figure a couple of days won't make any difference If the police don't come up with something else, but then I'll tell them You talk to her. What do you think? I don't know, but I'm going down to see her Wouldn't be very smart, would it? Maybe not. That's the way I have to play it Help yourself to another drink, Brand and and thanks I've got to see you Sure, Johnny. Come in What's the matter? Why'd you lie to me last night? I didn't. I don't understand George Richards. Why didn't you tell me he was here? How did you find out? He was seen coming to this room. Why didn't you tell me? I was afraid to Yeah, that I believe I put myself out in a limb for you today because I thought there was a chance you wouldn't lie to me I withheld inclination They want a motive for Jean's murder and I didn't mention you I didn't kill him That doesn't mean anything now that there's Richards I didn't know he was here until I opened that door He stayed here 10 minutes and I made him leave I told him to go back home or they'd be real trouble He didn't leave until this afternoon I didn't know that Johnny, I know I should have told you last night I've always trusted you, but I knew how bad the situation would look and I I just prayed that nobody would know George was here You weren't covering up for him? No, I didn't know, Johnny I didn't know he was still here Quit it, quit it, will you? Come on, sit down, get ahold of yourself Look, I want to believe you, Barbara, you know that But it doesn't make any difference now whether I do or not The police are going to learn about Richards Are you going to tell them? I imagine they'll tell me But I can't hold back anymore And with the answers I'll have to give them They can probably indict you for murder Or at least accessory with Richards I didn't kill him, I don't know anything about it Stop it, stop it, I don't need hysterics, I need proof How can you prove to me that you knew nothing about it? I don't know Would Richards have done it alone? No How can you prove that? It's a thing I know I can't use things, you know, I need people and statements People who will swear that they saw you at the time Jean Reimer was killed People who will swear they saw Richards It was nine o'clock, I was here I can check that That's all I know Johnny, stop, please stop, I can't stand anymore All right, Angel, I'll stop I tried to find an alibi for George Richards that night But a stranger in a city the size of Charleston is hard to nail down I went to the Clemens Hotel and questioned bellboys, clerks, maids and bartenders But those who remembered him hadn't seen him during the evening in question Then I tried cab drivers with no better success It was after midnight when I went to bed And nine the next morning when I was awakened by a summons from the police Accompanied by official transportation Interesting chat with the hotel detective where you're stopping Oh, I'm not surprised Lieutenant What's the matter with you, son? You put yourself in a pretty darn serious position by holding back information from me Why'd you do it? I'm not sure You admitted knowing that Jean Reimer, why didn't you tell me then that you knew about trouble between him and his wife? Well, I wanted to check the other angles first the blackburn investigation How bad was this trouble? Pretty bad Reimer had a mean streak that didn't show except to his closest friends and intimates You'd say he did a bodily harm? Yep, lots of it How'd you find out? For her? How well do you know her? I knew her before they were married You in love with her by any chance? I had been I would have married her I know what you're driving on Lieutenant The possibility that I came down here to protect her from a murder charge Well, that's half true What's that? She's been my friend I didn't want to see her pulled in if she wasn't mixed up in it You don't think she was? I'll have to leave that for you I know she had a motive and to make it better a possible accomplice turns up But so far it's all circumstantial And we put a searcher out on this man Richards That's how good them circumstances look to us Sure, and I'll bet I can reconstruct your reconstruction A phony tip to Reimer on how to crack the blackburn thing An appointment on magazine street and the payoff You break that down? Well, I tried Barbara has an alibi but Richards hasn't I've got to have somebody for that killing doll I'm going to bring her in I'm surprised you haven't already I want to talk to you first I want you to stay here while I talk to her Why? Why, you think she'll break down because of me? It's a matter of that board Now I'll be right back I've got to go get a man to pick her up Completing suicide Where's Lieutenant Steams? Just went out the other door, be right back Hey, I finally got the autopsy report on old man Blackburn New Salas have you really didn't believe his dad? Oh, no, he's dead, all right What is it, Sergeant? The Blackburn autopsy report Yeah, look here I'll be narcotics user The press has been waiting for this, Lieutenant And they've got a right to it No, wait, don't give it to them yet This has been pretty hard on that family Hold on to it, no use dragging them through any more mud Least of the federal men go to work on it All right, sir You'll be here in a few minutes, dollar So relax I've got to run through a few reports while we wait It was hardly the time for Alexation, but I tried We sat through an hour of questions to which there was no provable answers And at the end of it, Barbara Rimer was booked on suspicion of murder And I was released on bail Charged with suspicion of being accessory after the fact I had only one place to go Good afternoon, Miss Blackburn Good afternoon Hi, Mr. Dollar, you remember me? Of course I do I wasn't expecting you I'm sorry I didn't have time to phone, may I come in? Yes You selling at home? No, he's at the office What is it, Mr. Dollar? A girl has been arrested because the police think she killed Mr. Rimer The other man from Hartford Oh, I didn't know I don't think she did it I don't think I understand, Mr. Dollar Why have you come here? Because I think you know she didn't do it, Mrs. Blackburn Mr. Dollar Could we sit down someplace? Yes, in the drawing room Now, if you please, sir What is the meaning of this? Why did you refuse to allow an autopsy to be performed on your husband? Because I believe it to be a revolting and savage practice A mental torture that no one has the right to ask the survivors to experience I will not condone it Usually laws are stronger than human feelings Do you know that one had been performed? I refused Oh, Rollin told me there was nothing to fear He was wrong I will not condone it It's a matter of official record now, Mrs. Blackburn The report says your husband was an narcotics user He was not He was Your son knew it, and I think you did I shall have to ask you to leave, Mr. Dollar Please, Mrs. Blackburn, that wouldn't do any good When I was here before, maybe you remember Your son said something he didn't intend to say He told me that more than one man killed your husband He said killers He was upset Both murders had something to do with the narcotics your husband used, didn't they? No The police haven't been able to find a link between the Blackburn name and the magazine street section The narcotics made that link, isn't that right? No Gene Reimer must have found out He was the victim of the murder He must have found out he was killed Now a woman is charged with a murder she had nothing to do with What else do you want? Oh, we thought we were doing the right thing Why did you think that? We hoped to save Leland, that's shame And Rollin, his son, and his widow Gene Reimer must have learned from you No, no one was to be told Mr. Reimer discovered it himself When he faced us, we begged him to say nothing But when he threatened us, we told him their names The names of the people who supplied your husband? Yes, and made a hell of our lives They've extorted money from us for almost 10 years We, of the inviolate family They killed your husband They came that night to force him to buy more And when he refused and tried to telephone the police They killed him How won't you tell me who these people are? We told Mr. Reimer, and he... I won't go alone It will be finished then This farce we live It will be finished anyway Yes, we go no further There are two One is named Miller The other, Stone Why do I find them? You won't go alone We've caused one... I'll be all right I'll tell you where to find them I hadn't planned to go alone, but on the way I began to wonder if the time I spent Interesting the police wouldn't be used by Mrs. Blackburn To warn the two men whose capture Would put the finish to the family reputation So I didn't contact Lieutenant Sims Instead, I stopped by my hotel To pick up an automatic and cab to the magazine street Addressed by myself Thanks, I will, here What's the idea of pushing in? I just came from the Blackburn place Where? The old lady is tired of trying to save the family pride She talked again What? What other reason would I have for being here? She's ready to talk to the police about her husband I'm ready to talk to you about Jean Reimer I don't get it You'd better start, come on Where? Out the door, we'll find our way Now, listen to me You can't pull a man around like this I'll say, and why I haven't done nothing Then why are you? All right, I'll go Talk to Stone He did get a chance to talk to Stone But not before Lieutenant Sims heard him out And added his statement to that of the surviving Blackburns Which cleared Barbara, Reimer, and yours truly Expense account item 3, $110 Miscellaneous expenses in Charleston Item 4, same as item 2 Transportation back to Hartford Expense account total Oh, excuse me Yep Hello, Johnny Oh, hi, Barbara I thought you were coming over It's after 4 Well, as a matter of fact I was just going to phone I can't make it I've got another case I have to earn a living You know where to find me If you want to Yeah, yeah I'll try to call you when I get back to town Okay Goodbye Expense account total $345.75 Remarks This was a fairly personal assignment And it brings to mind a fairly personal observation Cops, private or otherwise, should never marry They're lousy husbands Because they're away from home so much But more important, they leave too many widows Yours truly, Johnny Dollar Yours truly, Johnny Dollar Stars Edmund O'Brien in the title role And is written by Gil Dowd With music by Wilbur Hatch Edmund O'Brien's latest picture Of the Paramount Pictures production, War Pad Featured in tonight's cast Were John Daener, Jim Nussar, Jeanette Nolan Georgia Ellis, John McIntyre and Larry Dobkin Yours truly, Johnny Dollar Is transcribed in Hollywood by Jaime Delvalle This is Dan Kerberle Inviting you to join us next week at this time When Edmund O'Brien returns as Yours truly, Johnny Dollar You can sing it again on CVS tonight For a whole hour of fun packed Music packed entertainment And maybe Dan Seymour will be calling you To solve one of the tuneful little riddle songs That lead to a chance at radio's largest cash jackpot $5,000 plus $10,000 more in wonderful prices Allondale, Judy Lynn, Bob Howard The Riddlers and Ray Block Orchestra Are on hand to sing and play the riddle tunes Leading up to Dan Seymour's Coast to Coast Cause Be listening again later tonight When Sing It Again comes along On most of these same CVS stations Now stay tuned for Von Monroe's Caravan Which follows immediately on most of these same CVS stations This is CVS Where you laugh with Lucille Ball And my favorite husband on Saturday nights The Columbia Broadcasting System