 Personal notice, dangers my stock and trade. If the job's too tough for you to handle, you got a job for me, George Valentine. Write full details. Standard Oil Company of California, on behalf of independent chevron gas stations and standard stations throughout the west, invites you to let George do it. The high price of a penny. Another adventure of George Valentine. Dear Mr. Valentine, how high is the price of a penny? Well, how high is up? I doubt if you can figure it. In fact, I doubt if you'll be much of any good in the present case. And if you think I talk in riddles, you're right. However, Mr. Valentine, I'll waste my time by telling you the facts. I'm a prematurely retired lawyer and tax consultant. Neighbours of mine out here in the Fish Lake country, name is Mom, elderly man and wife, they spent a penny once, a number of years ago, on a lollipop. Let me tell you, the price of that penny is going to be more than a million dollars. In plain words, those nice people are going to be taken. But just to really mix you up, I think you and I can stop the swindle with a diamond bracelet. Now here's what I'd like you to do. Telephone the moms. Tell them you're friends of mine and would like to come visit the country. I'll lay the groundwork. They know there isn't room for you to stay in my place anyway. Maybe you can't do any good, but at least you can wear down your teeth for a change biting on the penny. Sincerely, Amos W. Fell. Spoken like a lawyer. Certainly has a lot of faith in you, doesn't he? Million-dollar penny, diamond bracelet, lollipops. Faith in your curiosity. Well, come on, come on, Brooks. Hear me the phone. Look, Mr. Valentine, they're not home, I said. Well, when will the moms be home? When they get tired of being where they are now. And don't ask me where that is, playing 500 maybe or helping somebody pickle some peaches, I don't know. They get all kinds of fascinating ways of spending time. Well, who's there speaking, one of the servants? Mr. Just call back later, will you? But I'm afraid that I'm a friend of Mr. Amos Feld and I wanted to talk to... I'm the housekeeper isn't here either, in case you're thinking of beating Feld's time with her. Sure, sure, Mr. Valentine. I'll be a good boy, I'll write it all down. You're too kind. Yeah, and don't be insulted. I'm right in the middle of a poker game Clifford, huh? Yeah, yeah, good night. Keep them rolling. Well, let's see. Maybe there is a penny. A bad penny. Name of Clifford? Yeah, come on. We're not going to wait for an invitation. Yeah, the mall's place is around here somewhere. Road to the right, I think, Mr.... How about Mr. Amos Feld? He has a small cabin or something. Gosh, I don't know. It's kind of late. My mother will be mad. Well, Fish Lake, you must know where that is. Kid your age in the summertime. Oh, sure, Mr. That's who I was today. Well, I'm so late walking home. I got a bed on with another kid, see, and using only worms, I got three of the best looking... Yeah? Trout? Well, where are they? Well, anyway, it's the road to the right. First turn to your left. It's pretty far. I hope you have better luck than I did, but I'll bet you don't. Here's a turn, George. Yeah, so dark you can't see the signs. Everybody wishing us bad luck. I doubt if you can do much good, says Mr. Feld. And that boy, there was something funny about the... George! What was it? Found on the brush there, I don't know. It looked like lightning. Somebody with a flashlight, maybe. There, again. I'll find out quick enough. George, be careful. Easy. Yeah, take your own advice. Those rocks are loose. Hey, there, stand still. You're messing up the scenery. The birdie don't like it. What in the... All right, all right. Pass on. Pass out. I don't care. Flash bulb, that's what it was. At this time of night, for heaven's sake, taking pictures of what? It ain't for nature, study lady. Stand away from the fender there, will you? The fifth... Oh, George! Used to be a fender. Brother, what a wreck that must have been. The car must have rolled all the way down from the curb. I know, it's horrible, but stand back. That's it. You've got to get it from this angle. Car didn't roll, lady, it bounced. What about the people? There's... There's blood in there. It's a bad corner over at wind. That black top rolled slippery in the evening. Oh, they hauled them out hours ago. All them out dead. Oh, no. George, it's such a big car. It should be. Belongs to the morms. What? What did you say? Man and his wife live up the road. So occupants of the car, Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Morm, real nice and real rich. Only long about sunset, they clipped their last coupe. But listen, Buster, we were on our way to see the morms. We... say who's been there? Who investigated? Highway patrol and the city police both. Now, if you'll let me finish up, get pictures of the skid mark. Well, what did they say? What did they find? He was driving. That's what they said. Mrs. Morm killed instantly, sitting beside him. You know how it is. Steering wheel gave him a break for an hour or so again. What do you mean? Found his body where he crawled back up toward the road to flag a car for help, I guess. Only trouble is there aren't any cars on this road, so he just dived there. But why? An accident, my friend. No other traffic. They just slipped going around the corner. Ask the police if you don't believe me. Phone in the next house down the road half a mile. Slow down, will you, Buster? Why they leave you behind to take pictures if they were so sure it was just an accident? I'm losing my sleep for the insurance company. They want pictures to close their report and they'll want to know what I see nosing around. And you know what it is? Nothing, not nothing. Now you're happy? No. Come on, Bruxy. This was no accident. If it's murder you're thinking of, you won't do any good around here. Waste your time being wrong, that's all. It's an accident. I'm coming, I'm coming. Yes? Uh, I just wondered if we could use your telephone for a minute. There was a wreck half a mile up the road some time ago and I wanted to. Valentine. That's who you are. George Valentine. Mr. Fallon? Yes, come in, come in, come in. How convenient I live so close, huh? Well, we didn't expect you. You enjoy my meager hospitality? Faces much? Tired with bad health, you know. So I can find my extravagance to Dr. Bill's. But I'm happy. Sit down, sit down. You're happy, huh? Yeah, I know, bad taste. I heard about the accident, shame, wasn't it? However, that's the way it goes. Nothing we can do, it's all over now. What was it in the first place, Mr. Fallon? Hmm? Oh, you mean... The double-talk in your letter, bad pennies and bracelets. And you kept saying there was nothing we could do even then. Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, I'm a skeptic, Miss... Brooks. Oh, yes, of course. You were worried about this guy Clifford, this nephew of the moms, was that it, Mr. Fallon? Yes, Mr. Strampp. Of course that was it. He was the one the moms bought a lollipop for 15 or 20 years ago. He's been trying to get something better out of them ever since. He's one of those young men watches every angle. You know what I mean, counts every penny. He came to live with them. They were suckers, I told you. Well, Mr. Mom made a lot of money, and the boy was his relative. But he even took in the Mrs. too. I tried to warn them, but they wouldn't listen. And I could stop the swindle with a diamond bracelet, you said. It's all over. What difference does it make? Yes, yes, that's what I wanted for him. Kid never earned a penny in his life. But what a bracelet for Mrs. Mom. And was she impressed? I tell you, he's the kind who plays every angle. But how did he pay for it? That's what I meant, Miss Brooks. Diamonds. But how did he pay for them? Fair size one, too. Well, I checked into him a little. He's tangled with the law once or twice. I had an idea you might be able to find his little gift wasn't exactly legal, where he got them or... What's the matter? What was my angle? Is that what you're thinking? Well, their housekeeper is a friend of yours, isn't she? You haven't got a job anymore, so you don't have to be wrong. She is, and so what? My angle was trying to make the blinders off some nice people, that's all. Mr. Fowle, I want to check what the police had. Don't be a detective, will you? Mr. Mom's sole heir after his wife was Clifford. What? And her sole heir was Clifford, too. Don't you understand? They're both dead now. What can you do? The bad penny is going to collect his million dollars. The penny is already cashed in. I know it looks fishy, but... Oh, Lieutenant Riley. The best accident men on the force say there's not one chance in a million that it was anything but an accident. This Clifford may have figured his chances, and there are some other angles we don't know about. No, no, no. The doctors and lab men were in on it, too. Injuries sustained in the accident were what killed them both. First her in the front seat, they figure. Then him when he tried to make it up to the highway for help. What made their car go over? A normal skid at normal speed. Now, look, you can't tamper with a car to make it go over at a certain point, can you? No, but you... You can't scare somebody off the road without making them jam their wheel shops over the show, can you? I tell you, Valentine, it was absolutely nothing... I know, I know, an accident. My client says there's no more job for me. You say go home and forget it. So maybe I can't do any good out here. Or can I? George. Oh, I don't know, Brooks. See, a hunch is a hunch is a hunch. You're gonna go around and see Clifford before you... Oh, that's the trouble. Why? On what excuse now? He's got his money, or he will have it as soon as the probate and tax boys get through with it. No, I'm afraid he'd just throw us right out on our rear. Hey. Hmm? That photographer, what do you say his name was? Clem? Yes, but I don't understand... You weren't watching the road, Angel. What? Well, his car's gone. He's not... Oh, George! Yeah, his car's gone, but he's not. What's to just happen, Brooks? He's... No. No, he's dead already. Oh. The photographer who took pictures of the scene of the accident has been accidentally murdered. We'll return to tonight's adventure of George Valentine in just a moment. How old is the battery in your car? The average automobile battery loses half of its original power in two years, and after that it can give up the ghost within a matter of months. The safest thing to do with an aging battery is to have it checked regularly at your independent chevron gas station or standard station. 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Well, if your name is George Valentine, you don't like it much, but how can you argue? The mere fact that Mr. Mom was worth more than a million dollars, does that make him the victim of murder? No, no, a million times, no. Only now the other man who signed that same refrain, the photographer Clem, has been found dead. And this time at police headquarters, there's no argument when you say that it's murder. Look like he'd been hit from behind, Riley, by a rock or something. His camera, that's what it was. My sergeant found it thrown in the brush a few feet up the road. Uh-huh, somebody grabbed the camera. It was a fight. What about the car? His car was gone. Up the road, Angel, they found that too. Oh, they did. Abandoned. Whoever it was took the car to get away fast. Yeah, they must have seen us coming. Only, Riley, why do you suppose... Oh, no, no, you don't. Don't ask me why he was killed. Obviously, he must have been taking pictures of something that was... We looked around there and we did to see anything. Any film in his camera? Of course not. Or in his car either, it was all cleaned out. Well, Riley, I've noticed that sometimes a photographer working fast shoves exposed packs in his hip pocket. Yes, yes, I've noticed that too and I've already checked and he did. But you know what it was? A couple of films with specs on them over exposed. Still, he was killed because he was taking pictures. Miss Brooks, whoever was watching the photographer, whoever killed him also must have killed whatever scrap of evidence there was to prove the mom's death wasn't an accident. So now you see where we are? Nowhere. Okay, okay then, Riley, let's start all over again. In fact, I'm going to start from scratch with the penny. Clifford, I want to see that bracelet you gave your aunt. All right. There's much. Must be someplace around here in my answer room. I don't understand. She wore it most of the time. Oh, don't worry. It's someplace here, Mrs. Brooks. Tell me, where'd you get the money for it in the first place, Clifford? I'm here and there. What's it to you? Nothing, just wanted it. You might try the other dresser. Yeah, yeah. Got a dozen diamonds, Mr. Valentine. Nicest thing anybody ever gave me, she says. How to get on a woman's good side. Or into a woman's will. But I bought it legitimately, despite what Phil thinks. I'll tell you what the secret was. Picked it up on a resale. Every diamond in it was a second. I had a floor chipper sometime. It cost me exactly $600. Flaw, but she never knew that. He never told her that. Why should I? She couldn't see the difference. Oh, Clifford, you're a great boy. Indian gifts real close to the chest. George. Yeah, Brooksy? Lieutenant Riley called. He said no. What? Look, what's all this? Clifford, you better keep looking for that bracelet. Mrs. Brooks means that they didn't find it on her body. Your aunt wasn't wearing it when she died. Well, I'm sure it's just mislaid. But you just can't find it. Yeah, I know. Well, maybe I'll find it myself. Let me see those negatives, Riley. Hey, hold the flashlight. Yeah, here we are. Films with specs on them. George, it'll be done pretty soon. You'll see better. Over-exposed, I said. Ah, grant you, I'm no expert. I see them all, Riley. Easy enough mistake, Riley. Only it bothered me that a professional photographer would make a mistake with a couple of his pictures and still put them in his pocket. Besides, I remember the roads of blacktop and Clem was up here looking for skid marks. Here's the place, George. Here's where we found his body. Wait a second. These negatives. But those are white. Transparent. Well, that's what I meant that he'd end up with a black print. Except for a couple of specs. Two. One there, one there. Hey, this little blur in the corner must be this skid here. Yeah, yeah, now we're oriented. Picture the road, it is, isn't it? That's right, Angel, looking straight down on it. Ah, then the specs should be right about... Hey, there's nothing here now. Wait a minute, knife mark. There was something, see it? And a tar here. Huh? And the other one, just a foot over there. Some later car tracks have matched it down a little, but... The diamonds. George, what else would he have taken a picture of? The two specs? Only they're so far apart. You know, the bracelet might have been broken. We know she generally wore it. Well, there's nothing here now, that's a cinch. Either the photographer dug them out of the road or whoever caught them here being curious did it. Hey, hey, sergeant. Hamilton. Get those men closer in here. Have them beat every bush. George, I'm the one who's curious. If Mrs. Mom was wearing her bracelet when they had the accident, how would the diamonds from it get clear up here on the road? Their car went over. And if there were a couple of them here, what's so sinister about it? And where are the rest of them? Not much luck, Lieutenant, unless you call this luck. What are you talking about, sergeant? It's a long way from water, but their beauty's all right. Three fish. What? Hey, give me those. Ah-ha, that does it. We've got enough riddles and you come up with... With fish. Fish. Sure, of course. Three of them. Huh? Remember, Bruxy? The kid said, I caught three beauties today. Only we thought he was just telling a tall story because where were they? Yeah, yeah, the whole thing makes sense. Now, Riley, diamonds and all. Only come on, move fast. There's a kid we gotta find before the murderer figures it out and finds him first. That's why the kid was so nervous, Riley. That's why he left his three trout behind. He'd been at the scene of the accident. Hey, there he is fishing. Hey, you. It's you. Yeah, yeah, it's me, kid. What in the heck is this? Well, that's nothing. Just so many shooting. Game War don't get them. Only... Mr. What do you want with them? Get down. Get up on the ridge. Get up on the ridge. Come on, Riley. We're all right. Get him. I'm Mr. Valentine. I'll tell you anything. Okay, kid. Let's see the diamonds. I didn't know they were them. I would have told some. Sure, sure, sure. You didn't know who they belonged to. Six, seven, eight, nine of them, huh? They were just scattered there by the side of the road. Not any of them down the grade where the wreck was? I don't know, sir. I don't think there was any connection with that. There was a clasp. A catch thing. Here, see? It was caught in one of them low bushes by the road. The diamonds were just scattered along from there. Yeah. Did you find anything, Riley? Oh, it was shot at the kid's gun now. By the time we climb out of the brush here... By the time we do, you can make an arrest, Riley. Mr. Valentine, before you say anything to Clifford here, I think you ought to know that he couldn't have killed his aunt and his uncle. He was playing cards at the time of their death. Well, I was playing cards with him. What's all this? And so were some other men. Oh, Valentine, here we go again. The whole case hangs on the mom's death not being an accident. On all this other stuff I could cover up for the fact that it wasn't... Riley, take it easy. Well, it was an accident, all right? There's no argument. You and the experts persuaded me a long time ago. What's that? And, Mr. Fell, you told me a lot of other things, I believe, too. That Clifford here do anything for a few pennies. Get as much money from his aunt and uncle as possible. But how in the world? The whole case hangs on a few low-grade diamonds, Riley. That's why the photographer was killed. That's why Clifford tried to get at the kid, only we beat him to it. And that's why you're a sucker staying around to listen to this, Clifford. Go on, Mr. Valentine. Sure, sure. You're just counting on one thing that we'll never figure out why that cheap bracelet is so important. Why you could have been up to something if the death of your aunt and uncle was an accident. Well, I know why. Double inheritance tax. What? What's that? That's right, every penny counts. Every hundred thousand dollars. It's the location of the bracelet that tips it, isn't it, Clifford? Is it? It's who died first, your uncle or your aunt? But we know that she did. Remember, she was in the front seat and he tried to get up to the road for help. Finally, that accident wasn't discovered for several hours. Huh? Well, suppose it was discovered first by the ambitious miser here. Suppose he was all happy about seeing him dead until he noticed a terrible thing. The uncle was in the car. The uncle died first. How about that failure at tax expert? You don't need my help. Hey, and it was Mr. Mom's money. So legally, his wife would inherit. And then it would be passed on to Clifford. Now you're getting it, Riley. No matter how close their deaths were a few minutes or an hour, both wills would have to come into play when the estate would be settled. And that means two taxes. You know what the taxes on a million-dollar inheritance? You were not just to say pennies were, you Clifford. Because what you found was your aunt up by the side of the road. Now, wait a minute. How else could a bracelet have got caught and broken on a bush unless she was the one who died last, who struggled up that embankment for help? So it's pretty simple, isn't it? All you did was change the bodies around. So we'd think she died first and Clifford would inherit from his uncle and we would think that he had lived it. It was a body switch, Riley, a little investment in his future, that's all. Only the interest got compounded, didn't it, Clifford? You overlooked a bracelet and then a photographer didn't and began to get curious. You might have even figured it out. And when you counted the diamonds he'd found mashed into the road, there weren't enough. So you had to run frantically someplace else, someplace we almost led you to the kid who'd picked him up and couldn't see any harm in keeping him. Mr. Valentine, I did stare on too long, didn't I? The nice little gift you gave to your aunt. It really came back to haunt you, Buster the Snowball Owl. Yeah, yeah, gun makes a lot of difference, don't it? Go on, talk away, Mr. Valentine. Talk yourself for a change. You won't get away with this. Let him go, Riley. But he's got a car. I said let him go. As if to any argument. Want your blinds, friend, keep them rolling. Locks hold off, will you? Keep them rolling, he says. There's a lot. I can see him from the window here. He won't get it very far in that car. What's that? He's got a flat tire, Riley. Yeah. Nine diamonds from the boy. Two mashed into the road. That makes 11. But there were 12 in the bracelet. The high price of a penny. The extra diamond. He's got a flat tire. He found it. Mr. Fell, I grant you that a diamond is sharp enough. But one from that bracelet could be so small. It just couldn't have... But it did. You saw it happen. You saw them catch him. Yes, Miss Brooks. It was the stone, all right. Well, now it would have been neat, Mr. Fell. Retribution and all that stuff. But, you see, Clifford had a flat tire because I let the air out of him. Hmm? Oh, no, now look. When did you have a chance to...? Oh, a whole lot earlier. You see, I took a precaution, that's all. But how did you know then that it was he who...? Oh, I played safe and let the air out of your tires, too. Oh. Mr. Fell, we're skeptical of clients who keep insisting we're bound to be wrong. Oh. Uh... I didn't want to say it, Mr. Valentine, but now I'll have to. This business of double inheritance tax. Oh, sure, I know. It's your field, not mine. There was a recent ruling. You made the same mistake, Clifford did. I mean about saving all that inheritance tax. What? Oh, it's a perfectly logical mistake. You and he would have been absolutely correct until recently. Cortes decided in a case like that that the same money can't be taxed twice. Oh. Then... Then Clifford didn't have to move the body for a killer photographer. That's right. And it's only because I was wrong that I was able to put myself in Clifford's place and figure out his motive. That's right. But what difference does it make? Lieutenant Riley caught Clifford and he confessed, and now one thing's sure. George, you and I are going to have this dance and forget all... Oh. No music. Angel, this seems to be the kind of case where everybody's bound to be wrong. When we say that RPM motor oil is first choice where driving's toughest, it is not a statement made of dream stuff. It is based on facts. 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Tonight's adventure of George Valentine has been brought to you by Standard Oil Company of California on behalf of independent Chevron gas stations and standard stations throughout the West. Robert Bailey is starred as George with Virginia Greg as Bruxy. Let George do it is written by David Victor and Jackson Gillis and directed by Don Clark. Wally Mayer appears as Lieutenant Riley. Ted Osburn was heard as Bell, Anthony Barrett as Clifford, Herbert Butterfield as Clem, Jeffrey Silver as The Boy and Noreen DeMille as Mrs. Burley. The music was composed and presented by Eddie Dunstetter, your announcer, John Heiston. Listen again next week, same time, same station to let George do it. This is the Mutual Don Lee Broadcasting System.