 Now, Auto-Lite and its 60,000 dealers and service stations present... Suspense! Auto-Lite brings you Edmund Gwenn in murder in black and white. A suspense play produced and directed by Anton M. Lieder. Friends, have you got that faraway look in your eye for faraway places? Well, it's spring, so let's get going. Replace old narrow-gap spark plugs with white-gap Auto-Lite resistor spark plugs. Your car light'll smoother give you better power and performance on leaner gas mixtures, actually save gas. You see, Auto-Lite regular-type spark plugs have long been standard factory equipment on many leading makes of cars and trucks. And now, six, that's right, six of these leading makes of cars and trucks have switched to Auto-Lite resistor-type spark plugs for factory installation on their new 1949 models. The new Auto-Lite resistor spark plugs are tomorrow's spark plugs today. Remember, you're right with Auto-Lite. And now, Auto-Lite presents Edmund Gwenn in a tale well-calculated to keep you in. Suspense! Tom, to sleep last. Now let's see. I wrap this blanket around the gun to muffle the sound. Aim about there. Then... Tom! Tom is dead. Now, my notebook. Tab A, preliminary procedure. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. Tab B, performance of murder. Yeah? Mm-hmm. Yes, yes, everything has been carried out exactly as I planned it. Tom is dead. Now, 9.15, good. Everything is working out right on schedule. Now, Tab C, procedure to follow murder. Yeah, here it is. Replace pistol in my left jacket pocket. Fold blanket across foot of bed, making sure that it's not still smoldering from the discharge of the gun. Using clean handkerchief from breast pocket, wipe soda dispenser and replace on sideboard. Then, pick up decanter and glasses, take them to the kitchen, wash glasses, dry them on handkerchief from breast pocket, put them away, holding with handkerchief. Get dry handkerchief with handkerchief, return to Tom's room and restore it to sideboard. That's it, the decanter there. Replace handkerchief in breast pocket, pull covers up around body on the bed, put on my hat, take off my gloves, put them in my left hand pocket with gun, and place notebook in right hand pocket. Remember, there is no hurry. No. Now, now let me see. I believe I anticipated everything quite correctly. Oh, yes, yes, the bedroom lights. I'll leave on the downstairs light, naturally. Yeah. Oh, now 9.30. Thomas Cena and Clark can't possibly be termed before 11.30. And I doubt if they'll want to disturb Tom at that hour. No. No, I'll just stroll across town to my apartment house. People are quite accustomed to my taking a walk each evening after dinner. Then the train at 11 o'clock for my usual weekly business trip to the city. I'll go directly up and arriving in the city in the morning to my usual hotel. And shortly after that, someone should notify me of Tom's death. Yes. I believe this has been a most satisfactory murder. For suspense, auto light is bringing you Edmund Gwen in radio's outstanding Theatre of Thrill's Suspense. What's that? That's my sound man. In this commercial dramatic, we start with the deep, solemn tone of a gong. Oh, well, let's say it's a train load of car owners rushing to get wide gap auto light resistor spark plugs. Because they know auto light resistor spark plugs make an engine idle smoother, give better performance on leaner gas mixtures, actually save gas. Now have the sound of a happy engine idling more smoothly because it has wide gap auto light resistor spark plugs instead of old narrow gap plugs. Hey, hono, that's a horn. Oh, that's sound man. Well, all right, let's say that's folks who missed the train galloping to town to get auto light resistor spark plugs. And next, the happy hoot of a hilarious horn. Sounds like a big celebration. Sure, that's the way folks feel once they install auto light resistor spark plugs because their engines idle smoother, give better performance on leaner gas mixtures, actually save gas. Ah, hono, before your sound man loses his head, let's get back to suspense. And now auto light brings back to our Hollywood sound stage Edmund Gwen as rice archer in murder in black and white, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. I hope you had a nice trip, sir. Yes, very pleasant. Here you are, sir. Ah, yes, my regular room. Put my luggage on the floor there. Yes, sir. Thank you, boy. This is for you. Oh, thanks for nothing. My train was two minutes late in arriving, so it must be, yes, 8.32. Now my notebook. Tab C, item four. Procedure upon arrival in the city. I, yeah, yeah, yeah, she is excellent, excellent. Your order, please. Room service, please. Just a minute, sir. This is room 459. 459, yes, sir. I'd like some grapefruit to be sure that it's fresh. Two eggs, boiled exactly one minute and a half, three slices of whole-wheel toast. I'd like to toast it exactly two minutes on each side. Plenty of butter, a pot of coffee with a double order of cream. Yes, sir. Oh, yes, and would you sign up at times and find out if there's an Amesville Gazette around, will you? Yes, sir. Let me see now. Undress, take a shower, then shave and get dressed. Wear the blue shirt with matching tie, and by that time breakfast should be served. I'm sorry, sir, but there was no Amesville paper. It's not important. I have a niece who lives in Amesville. She works for an aircraft factory, the Hanigan Company. Well, that's our company. Well, that is, I'm a junior partner in the firm. The senior partner was Tom Hanigan. Well, I must remember to tell my niece, will there be anything else, sir? No, no, no, thank you. I'll just sign the bill. I'm adding your gratuity to the bill. Thank you, sir. Perhaps you know my niece, sir. Her name is if you... I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the names of the employees. That'll be all, waiter. Yes, sir. I must be more careful. Almost referred to Tom in the past tense. I believe I should make a note of that. Yes. Be sure to speak of Tom in present tense until after the notification of his murder. Too bad I couldn't get the Amesville paper. But to have made an issue about them sending out for it would have been two-pointed. Perhaps the city paper. They must have discovered the body by this time. They probably haven't called or wired out of consideration of the hour, yes. Yes, now let's see. Cold War gets warmer. President fishing in Gulfstream. New highway. Politics. Benefit. Prominent citizen dies. Yes. No, no, the wrong one. Society. Sports. Drama. Oh, nothing. It must be that it's just too early, of course. Of course, that's it, yes. Fortunately, I've prepared for every possibility. All I have to do is to look in the notebook. Should be right here. Yes, yes. If nothing in the morning paper and no notice received by time breakfast is served, eat breakfast leisurely. Then proceed with normal business calls, checking back with hotel at frequent intervals. Yes. That's it. That's it. Normalcy. Normalcy is the proper note. Now, let's see. Plenty of butter. Toast. Just right. I hope you didn't come in to tell me that the Hannigan Company can't deliver that order on time. Not at all. This is merely one of my courtesy calls. Tom and I like to keep our customers happy. Then all you have to do is to continue turning out precision parts as well as you have been. Tom. Tom is fine. Hotel Sherman. Mr. Archer speaking. Mr. Rice Archer. Room 459. Are there any messages for me? Just a minute, Mr. Archer. I'll connect you with the desk clerk. Thank you. I must be sure I have this right. Tab C, yes. Here it is. Procedure with hotel clerk. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Ah, good. Good. I have an answer for anything he may tell me. Yes. Desk Clerk. Hello, Desk Clerk. This is Mr. Rice Archer. Room 459. Any messages, please? Just a minute, Mr. Archer. They are probably telephone. Mr. Archer? Yeah? There's nothing for you, Mr. Archer. Nothing? Not a thing. Thank you. Very much. I'm really in town on business, Mr. Whitickham. But I couldn't resist stopping in long enough to see if there was anything new in Jade on the market. I don't know if you're interested, Mr. Archer, but I've just heard that Joyner in Philadelphia is willing to sell his snuff box from the Ming Dynasty. You know, it's white Jade with an inlaid green dragon. Joyner is asking 12,000. From the Ming Dynasty? Try to get it for me. All right, Mr. Archer. Business must be good, eh? Business is... excellent. And how's that old son of a gun, Tom? Tom, he's... I believe he's fine. Not a thing, Mr. Archer. There's nothing for you, Mr. Archer. And sure, the eggs are one and a half minutes each. Three slices of whole wheat toast, toasted two minutes on each side, plenty of butter, a double order of cream with a pot of coffee, and that'll be all. Only four hours since I arrived in the city and still no word. Well, there must have been some sort of slip-up at home in some manner. Some manner perfectly plausible if I knew what it was. News of Tom's death has been delayed. It doesn't mean anything except my plan of action must be held up until someone calls me. Oh, surely I'll hear sometime during the day. It's nice of you to take me to lunch, Archer. I must say I look forward to your regular visits. How's Tom? Tom, I haven't... I mean, he's fine, very fine. Well, Archer, you certainly know your restaurants. That was quite a dinner. Thank you. You know, the last time I was talking to Tom, he mentioned you had a lot of bomber clips ordered by the government and then cancelled. He said you'd sell them cheaply since the government paid for the cancellation so no one could figure out a use for them. Well, I believe I've got an idea and I'd like to know what you and Tom think. Tom? Why? Tom's fine. Your order, please. This is Mr. Rice, Archer, Room 459. Any... messages? No, no messages, Mr. Archer. I see. I'll be checking out in a few minutes, Clerk. Taking the midnight train back to Amesville, you might send the boy up in 15 minutes and if there are any messages before I check out, you will call me, won't you? Two days away from home and not a word from anyone. Well, they must have discovered the body. Well, I'll be home in the morning. I'll go straight to the factory and then someone will tell me surely it's... because it's entirely possible that everyone thinks I've been told by someone else. Of course, of course, that's it. Things have been very strange today, why there have been times when I almost felt as if I... as if I hadn't killed Tom. That I'd imagined the whole business. Yeah, it's... it's really most fortunate that I wrote everything down in the notebook. I only have to reread it to remember... to remember that Tom is dead and that I killed him. Huh? I'll be home in the morning. Nothing to worry about now. Now, I... I have everything in the notebook ready to say and do when I at last hear the news. Good morning. Good morning, Mr. Archer. Good morning. Good morning, sir. Good morning. Good morning, Mr. Archer. Strange. Everyone seems to be acting quite normally. Perhaps because they're only employees. Of course that's it. The workers would feel no sorrow. They didn't know Tom as... as I did. Now, now, let me see. Any procedure would be to let Clark Henry know I'm back. Yes, Miss Gordon, would you inform... Oh, never mind. Morning, Clark. Good morning, Mr. Archer. How was your trip to the city? Excellent, Clark. I managed to get a couple of orders and pre-substantially. Everything go... all right here? Sure. That's, uh... fine. How's Tom? Great. He'll probably be back to work in a day or two. He will? Fine. Excellent, in fact. Yeah, it'll be great to have him back. Morning, Mr. Archer. Huh? Oh, yes, yes, yes. I'm just thinking about the additional orders. Well, Tom will be glad to hear about those. He'll know how he worries about the business. Well, gotta get back to work. See you later, Mr. Archer. Yeah. Yeah. Procedure following murder. What to say if notified of Tom's death by Thomas Cena? By Clark? By police? What to do if read of death in paper before personal notification? Everything. Everything except... How is the Wicked City, Uncle Rice? Like it always is. Everything is normal. Uncle Rice? Yeah. What is it, Thomas Cena? Purple lipstick. See? I'm going to leave lathers of it on Clark's cheek. You know why? He proposed last night. Congratulations. I suppose your father would be pleased. Tom? He was delighted. We're going to have an engagement party tomorrow night. Couldn't have it until after you got back. Tom wouldn't hear of it. Tom? How is he? Fine. Tom's fine. Mr. Archer, I'm going home early. Huh? I'm not feeling too well on tomorrow's big day. But I'm taking some work home with me. Yeah, yeah, yes, of course. I suppose you'll be going over tonight to tell Tom about the new orders. Tom? Oh, yeah, yes. That might be a good idea. There'll be tickle of death to hear about him. You know Tom. Oh, Mr. Archer. Yeah? What is it, Miss Gordon? Clark Henley just called. Huh? He said he'd taken one of the account books home with him. And he suddenly thought you might see it was missing and worry about it. So he just wanted you to know he had it. Oh, which account book? Mr. Henley said he had the one covering our old government contract. He but... Why? Well, Mr. Henley ordered a general audit for tomorrow. And he said he wanted to go over that book tonight. Why, Mr. Archer? What's wrong? You've turned as white as a sheet. Order and control! Those are the important explanations why they haven't told me about Tom. Why Clark has ordered an audit and why he's looking into our government contract. Everything is in my notebook. Yes. Here it is. Plan for killing Tom Hannigan. Reasons why murder is necessary. The government contracts. Yes. Yes, it was so easy when the war was over and everything was being cleaned up to make the government pay twice for the orders. Just a few little changes in the books and that money was mine. It wasn't my taking the money from Tom or our regular customers. And it wasn't as if I... as if I was spending the money foolishly. No. No, it was spent on my jade collection. But Tom might have misunderstood him. Might have called it stealing and I would have been put in jail. I wouldn't have had my jade. No, no, no. When Tom was ill, he started thinking about the government orders. Yeah. Maybe Clark Henley put him up to it. He didn't think of that. All I knew was I could let Tom live and lose all that was dear to me, which was unthinkable. Or I could kill Tom and keep everything. Yeah. Now I did put Tom to sleep and I did shoot him. And here, Tom's daughter, who loved him, giggles about her purple lipstick which I'm seemingly I'll demand that she... control... Now what? What would be the normal procedure? Yes, of course. Good evening, Ethel. This is Mr. Archer. Well, hello, Mr. Archer. Is Mr. Hanigan there? Yes, sir. You want to talk to him? Yeah, please. Just a minute, sir. But I'll tell him you're called. He ain't feeling so good this afternoon. Well, what seems to be... trouble? Oh, he must have had something. Something that didn't set right. He's got kind of... Too bad. Bye. Doesn't anyone know that Tom's dead except me? I can't be the only one I've got to tell. I've got... No. Order. Control, yes. Yes, I've got to think this out. I... Yeah, I know. I know that Tommy's dead. I saw him die. But Clark and Tomasina announced their engagement plan a party. Clark. Clark, Tomasina would do anything, he says. Clark ordered an audit of the books for tomorrow. Clark took home the book of government accounts, the book I had to alter. Clark! Bipsqueak. I'll fire him. Right now! Now! Control. Yes, I shot Tom. And I... I know I did. Because I wasn't sure I could stab him. A human being as a human being's frailness, Tomas, my friend, had been for 20 years. It was just unthinkable that I could take a knife and stab him. I couldn't do a thing like that to a man who was my friend. No! No, that's why I shot him. I can stab young Clark Henley. Impudent, interfering Clark Henley. Pierce him like a child's balloon. He's home now. Looking for the mistake that'll catch me. My notebook. We'll take a new page for this. Yes. Yes. Plan for killing Clark Henley. Good evening, Clark. Well, hello, Mr. Archer. How are you? I wanted to talk to you about something. I hope I'm not intruding. Not at all. Come right in. In fact, I'm glad you came. We were just talking about you. We? Yes, Tom and I. Tom? Yes, he's in the kitchen mixing a drink. Come on out, Tom. Mr. Archer's here. No. No, he can't be Tom. Tom's dead. What did you say? I think... How did you know Tom was dead? Well, it was either my notebook. It's right here. It's... There must be one of them. I'll take that notebook. And now! Yes. Yes, just as I thought. All right, officer. Here's the whole story in this little notebook. I guess you were right, Mr. Henley. But I never thought I'd see anything like this. No, you can't. You can't do this. It isn't the way I planned it. I knew we'd trap him this way. He's never been able to do anything without preparing a notebook. Yeah, but... Tom told me you couldn't even hire a secretary without planning all the dialogue in advance and writing it out. Right! That's why I made everyone pretend Tom was still alive. I knew if he didn't have all the answers in his little book, he'd have to break. Break! Break! Well, come along, Archer. It really wasn't fair not telling me. And I had it all written down in black and white. Thank you, Edmund Gwen. Friends, Autolight Resistor Spark plugs are ignition engineered by Autolight which makes over 400 products for trucks, cars, airplanes and boats in 28 Autolight plants from coast to coast. Yes, sir, and Autolight also makes complete electrical systems for many makes of America's finest cars. Spark plugs, batteries, generators, starting motors, coils, distributors. All engineered to fit together perfectly, work together perfectly because they're a perfect team. So folks, don't accept electrical parts that are supposed to be as good. Ask for and insist on Autolight original factory parts at your neighborhood service station, car dealer, garage or repair shop. Remember, you're always right with Autolight. Here again is our star, Mr. Edmund Gwen. You know, I really enjoyed returning to the suspense playhouse. This program is a favorite of most Hollywood actors and much of their enthusiasm comes from the opportunities suspense gives them to play a different kind of part. See? Well, for instance, I'm sure you're going to want to hear next week's show when Betty Grable appears in an unusual role in a story called the copper tea strainer. Another gripping study in Suspense. Edmund Gwen appeared through arrangement with MGM, producers of the technical picture Little Women, starring June Allison, Peter Loughard, Margaret O'Brien and Elizabeth Taylor. Tonight's suspense play was adapted for radio by Eli David from a story by Ann Wormser and Jess Oppenheimer. Music was composed by Lucian Morrowake and conducted by Lutt Bluskin. The entire production was under the direction of Anton M. Leder. You can buy auto-light resistor spark plugs, auto-light stay-full batteries, auto-light electrical parts at your neighborhood auto-light dealers. Switch to auto-light. Good night. This is Cancer Control Month. Do your share in the fight to control this vicious killer by generously supporting the American Cancer Society. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.