 mystery house mystery house that strange publishing firm owned by Dan and Barbara Glenn where each new novel is acted out by the mystery house staff before it has accepted for publication mystery house okay kids you'll have your parts for tonight's story let's see what's the title Bobby it's called vacation from this the story of what happens when a detective tries to take a vacation yeah that's right there are plenty of good characters too I hope you boys will make the most of your parts I'll say they're good things in this script mr. Glenn listen to this okay places everybody set the scene will you Tom vacation from death tonight's story opens in a boathouse skip out on the proprietor is greeting Jeff can feel their customer he's apparently glad to ah you're late Mr. Canfield crazy been getting impatient yeah well let him get impatient if John McCrae's gonna have to slow down plenty if he's gonna keep with me sounds like sense to me Mr. Canfield most of you city folks do everything too fast that's why you all guys were young why I figured I was just a stripping when I was your age yeah well skip nobody'll ever convict you of speeding will it where's the boat right right off the way you go and McCrae is a not sweetest little houseboat on the river you and him are in for the finest vacation you ever had nothing on the river to bother you not even a policeman good well I'll see you skip yeah better not keep McCrae waiting so long mr. Canfield yeah oh yeah who Jeff can't feel yeah yeah just a minute I can I can still catch him I think hey hey Mr. Canfield telephone I'll tell him I'm left skip sounds like it's important you better answer all right all right skip you haven't got a telephone hooked up on that houseboat have you know that's a little out of my line give me the darn phone yeah yeah I just can't feel what oh look I gave you my answer on that before I left town yeah I'm on a vacation that's right no more murders well there are plenty of other good detectives around try one of them flamon for instance I'm sorry it's still no I'm on a vacation if it doesn't take a detective to deduce that a household was just about the most peaceful way to spend the vacation that man ever invented well you know that sell me John I'm happy just let me sit here on the deck and drink in the silence just about started but peace it's wonderful not even thinking about that telephone call you got on the dock maybe but my hunch is that by the time we get to where this river empties into the Mississippi you're going to be plenty bored with peace and quiet murder is in your blood Jeff not this baby I've solved my last case I've had all the death I can stomach I hope you mean that huh wait a minute you say that a little too vehemently what have you got if you sleeve well if you must know the real reason I invited you on this trip was to persuade you to take charge of the protection of my plants a million dollar industry needs the smartest protective system available the kind of a system you could set up John I might have known you had an angle when you pitched up this vacation idea Jeff when a man gets to my time in life he begins to think about an air don't blame me because you're not married John what's that got to do with all business ties together all business yes you and I on a vacation together my offer to make you chief of my protective system and my desire for an air I don't get it that's what I like about you it wouldn't occur to you what would be curtain fact that I want you to inherit the control of my business what exactly I'm an egocentric old man Jeff I want my plants to go on after I'm dead just as they have but that's going to take a smart man well the woods are full of smart young man not smart enough you want me to come into your business now and then be ready to take over when you cash in your chips huh exactly well that's a spot for a relative not for a private dick like me no Jeff relatives are out haven't got any close ones anyway but the important thing is I've made up my mind about you I may as well say I don't change once my mind made up matter what the odds against me what do you bet what do you mean well I've got a hunch that you will change hey now don't tell me we're gonna have to work on this trip what's the matter with a motor I don't like that sound either can't be much wrong with it though I had old skip Allen overhaul old bolt before we shoved off well I don't know anything about motors but my guess is that we're in for trouble well maybe you oughta pull into that lagoon up there take a look I hope you know how to monkey with motors because I'm not gonna budge from this deck chair I came on this ride for a vacation now here's your lagoon here's a guy who looks like he knows all about motors see the guy sleeping in the rowboat over there oh you in the rowboat dead to the world get this box car in close to him maybe I'll hear you get too much closer how deep this lagoon is when you're coming up on him now hey hey wake up you hey he's really sleeping look at that sunburn he's been out here for more than a little while hey wake up he's got the right attitude I can give a darn for anything go on wake him up John not going to budge oh no not me I am as comfortable as he is well I'll have to go over the side then give me a hand here I'll go down the rope letter pretty frisky for an old man John hey Jeff what's the matter can't you wake him Jeff this man isn't asleep he's dead gone too far from skip Alan's landing here we are now good saying what do you mean a good thing finding this guy dead ruined my vacation oh skip skip Alan skip we're coming back in everything clear yeah good throw skip pull us in William what's up Mr. McCrae on the dead man skip and that lagoon just around the bend looked like he rented one of your boats dead man in my boat oh you can't be serious I'll help us get the body ashore will you skip all right Jeff I've got his feet easy does it where yeah here I got it let's bring him into the boathouse yeah okay yeah how about right here okay I want to take another look at him before we call in the corner doesn't seem to be a mark on him suppose he had a heart attack well it could be but I got one of those pesky hunches that yeah what do you mean Mr. Canfield I told you Jeff you've got murder in your blood if you really want a vacation yeah I know I know it's just my suspicious nature on a skip there how many times have you heard of a man dying alone on the water from a heart attack well never heard of that Mr. Canfield you see skip's been on the river for 50 years haven't you skip oh more than that never been off of it all my life I still say Jeff you love murder you make it up even where it isn't here I wrote him over let me look at him I want to remember a place tip probably one of the summer cottages around your place no no no lead eyes on him before anybody working for you skip I mean anybody who might have rented this man one of your boats no I'm here by myself never leave the place even sleep here and I know I ain't seen this guy before but the boat had your mark on it unmistakably that's right blue letters SA and a number of 38 38 that ain't right 38 still here tied up to the dock you sure that skip there wasn't any question about that number was a John I thought it said 38 why worry about it you still haven't any reason to think the man was murdered I say forget it let's get back to our household crews skip can turn the body over we're in it now John might as well stick around and answer the corners questions whether it's murder or not this is tubby Wilkins just one of the young loafers around here hey what do you get off call me a loaf of skipper why you never did a day's work did you are over 20 years old that's why don't I more money than you hey hey what's this step you ever see this man before tubby take a good look at him you know him no I mean I mean yeah I seen him where did you see him well it was why don't you ask you for he knows him what he must know the guy render one of skips boats and when was this what are you talking about tubby early this morning I was out my own boat and I saw this guy come and talk to skipper then I seen him take one of skips both why daddy true what were you doing out then fishing well yeah yeah I was fishing I never seen you with so much as a as a string in a bent safety pin why didn't you tell him what she was really doing on the river wait a minute skip what's this all about stubby see what he tells you you never went fishing in his life but he spends every night on the river you shut up huh he's a runner goes down every night and brings up stolen goods which he delivers to a fence what's that got to do with his dead man nothing nothing see I don't know but I do know he's lying in his teeth when he says I rented a boat never mind skip never mind yeah what about it tubby you still haven't told us who this guy is you didn't ask me now look don't get smart you know who he is tell us and quick all I know is I seen him drive up with some woman and stop at the porter cottage last night then this morning I seen him in the boat what's this porter cottage that's when they rent people come and stay for a week or so where is it right down here about 500 yards let's go down to see the woman I seen a drive away you won't find her at the cottage maybe not but I'll find something something that'll lead me to the answer the answer to a murder it's the porter place skip yeah this is it looks just nobody was here all right I'll take a look anyway while I'm doing that you'd better run over and find out what you can't miss his porter she ought to know the name of anybody who rents her car don't know about that mostly these folks that one overnight place they just drive in and pay cash in advance they don't have to keep no records that way we'll see what you can find out anyway I'll be here when you get back a great way to spend a big case some vacation the quiet peaceful houseboat crews Jeff Canfield Caledon was first interrupted when he and John McCray found a dead man in a rowboat and now this it looks as if somebody else wanted Jeff to take a vacation the permanent kind but more about that later in the meantime act to our vacation from death detective Jeff Canfield declaring it was all through with murder started off on a vacation cruise with his millionaire friend John McCray only to find a man lying dead in a rowboat find to identify the dead man Jeff has been knocked out as he comes to find Oh who slugged me hey it's me it's me Mr. Canfield huh oh hello skip yeah oh my head oh I was some buster I got laid out oh yeah are you all right yeah live I guess but who uh who helped you that's what I'm gonna find out here here let me help oh wait a minute who's that well are you doing here who are you anyway a minute there who are you my name's Norton and I'll thank you to get out of my car oh she must be yet true that you and your husband rented this place last night from the border well I don't see that that's any of your business now we'll leave her while I have to minute I don't know any excuse for breaking into a private cottage when you've answered that telephone perhaps I can explain hello no I guess I'm unexpected callers I don't know who they are I'll get rid of them all right sure what tonight oh but I thought all right yes yes you you know I do later goodbye Mrs. Norton now what is it you want you know where your husband is now all right fishing we're not early this morning my name's canfield Mrs. Norton I'm detecting there's a possibility that the man we found man you found yeah I want you to come with me Mrs. Norton the man we think is your husband is you mean he's dead Jerry's dead no so it can't be Jerry in my boathouse man will you come with me Mrs. Norton all right had to be this is where Mrs. Norton but he had no identification nothing except his fishing equipment in this druggist box labeled salt tablets well he always used him he's got himself isn't a mark on him except that intense sunburn must have been his heart he complained about it but I never thought it was serious yet a bad heart he always complained complained about your affairs with other men what do you mean you can't drop I'm sorry Mrs. Norton you made it impossible for me not to overhear what you said on the telephone who are you talking to we know your husband was dead then that's none of your business perhaps not when a man's murdered a lot of unimportant things become the business of a detective now I don't have to answer your questions no maybe you refuse to answer because you know too much about the murder your husband he wasn't murdered you have no business died under mysterious circumstances until that mystery is cleared up it's the business of a detective to investigate are you going to tell me I'll tell you I'll break your arm to me okay okay you are all right no funny business you've got a lot of questions to answer high off Irene that's all I care about Irene yeah Mrs. Norton what's she to you tubby you think I'm gonna tell you you're crazy I want an answer tubby try and get one all right you ask for it how do you want some more no I'll talk all right now what do you know about Irene Norton I don't know nothing I just know her that's all you knew her well enough to call her Irene well I knew her husband down on the dock you told me you didn't know him that you just saw him once oh sure I was afraid you might try to pin it on me then what on you I didn't ask you to do anything except identify a dead man you know more than you're admitting now come on out with it all I know is he was a guy that gave me my toll yeah you know more than you're telling tubby and if you aren't guilty of Jerry Norton's murder you better talk and talk fast because if you don't talk now I'm afraid the murderer will see to it that you don't talk at all houseboat's okay again Jeff whatever is wrong with the motor's been taken care of by skip and roll set to push off again not me John what do you mean I've got a little unfinished business to attend to yet you don't still have that crazy idea that Norton was murdered do you I do and it's not crazy but you yourself admitted that there wasn't a mark on his body no evidence no nothing all right call it a hunch but I've got a thousand dollars it says I can prove it was murder there's a lot of money to put on a hunch but if you're crazy enough to do it I'll take you up on it providing you don't take too long to prove it I'm still taking that vacation trip remember and I'll take it with you in one hour huh yeah I'll call everybody together in one hour skip Allen tubby and Irene Norton and I'll have my murderer then with proof I still say you're crazy I'll be waiting on my houseboat for you and your thousand dollars it'll give me something to spend on my vacation over on the dock skip what do you want with me I told you I didn't do never mind tubby never mind you see why I want where's the woman doesn't miss his Norton showed up yet no not yet but you said everybody was to meet here at ten o'clock it's past that already I know skip maybe she isn't gonna show up well I ain't gonna stay here either see you can't make me all right tubby we're gonna find out who murdered Jerry Norton now you wouldn't want to miss that would you I don't know nothing about it I ain't gonna hang around and get framed or something got a guilty conscience tubby no listen you what are you gonna do mr canfield I sure say like them as the friends say skipper we're gonna find the woman in this case you got a motorboat ready to go well sure sure right here but why hit the motor started skip we're following mrs norton oh I thought that earlier tonight I saw her take off in a motorboat in the dock where would she be going in the dock my hunch is that she's meeting somebody somebody who may know something about the murder of her husband getting the boat tubby why don't you leave Irene alone what do you think you're in okay already miss camp here ready show off skip there's a boat yet mr canfield yeah and the moonlight's bright enough so you could pick out a piece of driftwood on the river just keep on down the river skip I have a hunch that we'd be seeing something very shortly yeah over there what do you mean well see no motorboat just hold down the craze houseboat maybe head overtaught it okay if you say so better shut off the motor skip getting close enough so they can hear it yeah but what do you cut it jump and dead boys this mrs norton's motorboat yeah tied to the stern of the house boy uh-huh Irene norton didn't show up for our rendezvous because she had a little date to meet john mccray out here I hit us right for the stern skip I want to drift right up alongside the houseboat you uh game in the water right and be ready for anything when we do I'll pick the lead I'll have my gun handy all right ready now let's go skip you go last tubby in between us okay we just walk in and say surprise shut up tubby shut up you'll find out soon enough we'll be in the cabin right near the stern here you'd never have come out here I told you to stay put until until I get picked up of that dick huh I wasn't born yesterday john I know you were baiting it I'm gonna rush him now lay low there may be some shooting now I might try and reach you for that gun again john next time I won't aim for your arm you'll pay for this oh no I think the state will be glad to give you first aid for your wounds the state yes skip my friend john mccray is norton's murderer that's ridiculous I have nothing but try to run out on me will you sure he's the murderer he murdered my husband I had nothing to do with it thank you mrs norton but I knew that all along but you tried to hang it on me and her no no tubby you're wrong I knew you had something to do with it but I knew you were too dumb to figure it out for yourself what yeah you gave gerry norton the boat he had didn't you sure mr mccray said norton was a friend of his he gave me 50 bucks uh-huh and you also gave norton the salt tablets mccray said they were from Irene said norton all we use apparently he did use salt tablets however these tablets were poisoned poison that's right but I picked up the box norton had in his pocket my finger touched the powder which had shaken off the tablets and my sense of taste did the rest all I had to do was discover who'd bought salt tablets and I was reasonably sure who'd poisoned your husband it turns out that my good friend John mccray this is this and I knew can't prove you gave yourself away when you started shooting John well uh what about the woman skip mccray's been having an affair with Irene norton for quite a while and jerry norton began to get in the way mccray figured that he could eliminate jerry and have Irene to himself and he would have succeeded too yeah but it was mccray that found norton sure he figured if I was with him when we found norton apparently dead from sunstroke there wouldn't be any investigation he knew that norton complained about his heart so he knew he wouldn't arouse Irene's suspicions well but he made one mistake yeah what sounds pretty foolproof to me he thought a detective could take a vacation he should have known you can't take a vacation from death