 What's the matter? What is it? Another case for Nick Carter, master detective. Yes, it's another case for that most famous of all man hunters, the detective whose ability at solving crime is unequaled in the history of detective fiction. Nick Carter, master detective. Tonight's curious adventure. An angle on murder at the mystery of the mutilated foot. Better, Prancy. Oh, Nick, put the lights on. All right. And I said I wanted to hear the recorded confession you made of that mad murderer who killed his wife. I didn't think I'd have to listen to it in the dark. Well, that's the way we got him to confess in the first place. Oh, I'll take it, that's it. Okay, Nick. Nick Carter's office. I'd like to talk to Mr. Nicholas Carter. This is Nick Carter speaking. Oh, hello, Nick. This is John Hamill, the banker's associates. Oh, hello, John. How have you been? Nick, I'm in trouble. I can't discuss it over the phone. How soon can you meet me? Where? On West Street, around the corner from the Greystone building where my offices are. Please get there as fast as you can. All right, John. I'll be there in ten minutes. Now, Scubby, you understand exactly what you're going to do? Yeah, Nick. Okay, I'll see you later. I've got a date on this corner. Okay, Nick. I'll be seeing you. Hey, look at that car coming up the street, would you? Hey, Nick, watch out! That car is headed right up! Did he hit you, Nick? Are you all right? Yeah, I'm all right. Oh, gee, that was close. It almost seemed like whoever was driving that car did that on purpose. Wouldn't be at all surprised, Scubby. I think somebody is interested in preventing me from keeping my appointment. Hey, look, baby, I better stay with you, Nick. No, I've got something else for you, Scubby. I've got the number in that car. Hop down to the license bureau and find out who it belongs to. Then wait for me at the office. Sorry I'm so late. Oh, hello, John. I've been on this corner waiting for you for twenty minutes. Where have you been? Trying to get here without anyone seeing me. Well, why all the mystery? What's up? Wait a minute, Nick. Back in this doorway, quick. Don't let him see us. Well, who was that? Somebody trailing you? I don't know. I never saw him before. Then why do you want to dodge him? You haven't done anything wrong, have you? Nick, absolutely nothing. Now listen, I don't want the police in on this just yet, if I can help it. Thanking for him like mine can't stand any unnecessary notoriety. Yes, I know, John, but what's this all about? Well, let me explain. I wanted to tell you out here where I can be sure no one will hear us. You see, Nick, several days ago I discovered there's a serious shortage on our books. Somebody has been taking money from the accounts and I'm almost sure I know who it is. I've called a meeting of my four partners. They're upstairs in my office waiting for me right now to have a showdown before the stockholders find out. That's why I ask you to come over here, Nick. You may have to make an arrest tonight. Well, you don't want a detective, John. You want a cop. No, no, no. You're wrong, Nick. I want you. Please come along. Well, perhaps you better weigh down the lobby while I go up and see if everything's all right. That is safe for you to come over. No, no, Nick. There's no need for that. All right, then. I want to be in on the showdown. Come on. Anything you say. And if you really feel that something dangerous is in the wind, I think I should go up there first and look around. And if everything's OK, let you know. No, no. I want to go up now and get it over with. Well, you insist. I do, Nick. Oh, I know it's pretty late, but I waited purposely till the offices were closed to avoid any publicity. This whole business requires the greatest secrecy. 24th floor. Oh, this is our floor, Nick. After you, John. Oh, thank you. It's kind of dark in this hallway, isn't it? Yes, the lighting isn't any too good here, but I... John! John! Johnny, you hurt bad? Nick. Quiet, please. Quiet. Gentlemen, John Hamill is dead. John Hamill is dead, but that's terrible, terrible. How did it happen? That's what I want to know. You seem to know him. Who are you? I could ask you the same question. Who are you? I'm Nick Carter. Nick Carter, the detective? Yes. Oh, well. My name's Tom Burdick. I'm one of Hamill's partners, and these are the others. Uh, Mr. Carter, I'm Emil Garrick. And this is Arthur Nelson and Alan Cornish. How do you do, Mr. Carter? You're Cornish, huh? Yes, Mr. Carter. What do you know about this? Nothing. Nothing. I... I was in my office all the time. Oh, that's not true, Cornish. I saw you go out in the hall just a few seconds before Hamill was shot. That right, Cornish? Yes, I... I did go out for a moment. But when the shot was fired, I was back in my office. But why question me? Why don't you ask Burdick where he was? Mr. Nelson and Garrick! Well, I can easily explain where Mr. Nelson and I were. We were both together in my office preparing some papers for tonight's meeting. That's right, Mr. Carter. I was with Mr. Garrick. Which of you men belong to which office? Well, you can see the layout yourself, Mr. Carter. They all open off this L-shaped corridor. First comes Nelson's office, then Burdick's. They're on the long leg of the L. Then on the corner at the end is Cornish's office, directly in line with the corridor to the elevator. And Garrick's office is around the corner on the short leg of the L. That's right. That's out of sight of the elevator completely, isn't it? Sure. You can't even see the corridor from my office. So I see. Then Cornish, your office is the only one which faces the corridor. I'd like to have a look at it. All right. Let's wait. This is my office, Mr. Carter. Secure your order, yeah? Let's see. Well, what are we here in this umbrella stand? A gun. And it's been fired very recently. I should say, gentlemen, this was the murder weapon. That's Mr. Cornish's umbrella stand. What do you know about this, Cornish? I don't know anything about it. Well, that gun belongs to Mr. Cornish. That's right, Mr. Carter. I've seen it in his desk many times. I recognize that fancy handle. Say, what are you fellows trying to do? We're sure it's my gun, but I haven't seen it for three days. Someone stole it on my desk, Mr. Carter. Why didn't you report it to the police? Because I didn't carry a permit for it. I was afraid of getting in trouble. Cornish, I regret that appearances are against you. I'm afraid I'll have to turn you over to the police. You won't turn me over to the police? No, what happened to the lights? Cornish, don't murder. Turn those lights on, somebody. I'll leave you on, Mr. Carter. There he goes, Carter. It's Cornish. He's escaping down the hall. Stop, Cornish. Stop or I'll shoot you. As you see, Patsy, I was right with Hamill when he was murdered. What I can't figure out was how he was shot when there was no one else in the hall with us. Don't ask me anything. And here's something else. I heard only one shot fired. But Cornish's gun had three empty shells. And atop it all off, here's the bullet that killed Hamill. The coroner gave it to me. Notice how it's all banged up? Yes, how did that happen? I wish I knew. Patsy, if I knew the answer to that, I think I'd know the answer to this whole case. We find Cornish. Oh, I'll get it. Hello, Carter? Yes, this is Nick Carter. Oh, this is Alan Cornish. I suppose I'm a fool for calling him up, Carter, but I need help. I'm desperate and I can't go to the police. You've got to help me prove I didn't kill Hamill. Why'd you run away, Cornish? Because I was scared. Lucky for me you didn't hit me. Don't worry, Cornish. If I'd really wanted to hit you, I would've. Where are you now? I'll tell you, but you've got to promise to come alone. If you don't... The only thing I'll promise you is that I won't do anything to have to talk to you. Now, what's the address? 1813 Oak Street. Come right over. I'll be waiting for you. Okay, sit tight. I'll be there. You mean we'll be there? I'm sick of sitting around here. I'm going with you. 1313 Oak Street. This is it, Patsy. Gosh, what a creepy-looking place. Certainly not very attractive. Well, come on, let's go in. Maybe he's not here. He said he'd be here. I wonder if... Well, the door's open. Should we go in? We can't keep our date with Cornish. We don't. Gosh, it's dark in here. Nick, do you suppose it could be a trap? You never can be quite sure, Patsy. Here's the door. Stand behind me. Can you see anything in there, Nick? Would like to get my flashlight. Nope. Looks deserted. Oh, come on, let's try another room. This place gives me the jitters. It's practically deserted. Maybe he's in here. Stand back, Patsy. Nothing in there. Maybe he got scared after he called you and slipped away. We'll soon find out. There's another door over there. Is that...? Yes. He's hanged himself. Nick, I don't know why he came back to the office again tonight. Cornish is dead. I guess that closes the case. Patsy, I'm not satisfied. When I talked to him on the phone, he certainly didn't sound like a man who was going to kill himself. When a man wants to prove himself innocent, he doesn't commit suicide. No, Patsy, there's something about that hanging that's bothering me, and I can't lay my finger on it. You probably figured that was the best way out. To kick over the chair and end it all. Patsy, remind me to give you a raise. And what did I do? I've got it. Look, Patsy, Cornish was a short man. So what? Patsy Cornish couldn't have hanged himself. Why not? Don't you remember, Patsy? The only furniture in that room was a bed. And Cornish was so short, he never could reach that noose from the bed where it was. Of course, Nick. The bed was on the other side of the room. Patsy Cornish was murdered. She eliminates him as a suspect. Probably he was killed by the same man who killed Hamill. But who, Nick? Who? Well, it was shiny. Well, it was shiny. Hi, Nick. Hi, Patsy. Call of it isn't the missing link. Scubby, did you find out anything about that car that Neela ran me down this afternoon? Oh, you bet, Nick. Good. But what a time I've been having. Wait till you hear what I have to tell you. Well... I had to get the license commissioner out of bed to get it, but... Oh, boy, it was worth it. Hey, do you know who that car belongs to? Tom Burdick, Hamill's partner. Good boy, Scubby. You get his address, too? Yeah. Some deserted neck of the woods out in Long Island. I've got the address here somewhere. Fine. Come on, Scubby. You and I are going to pay him a visit. You know, Scubby, the more I think of it, the more it looks as if Tom Burdick might be mixed up in this somewhere. Oh, I hope so, Nick. Otherwise, we're using up a lot of gas in this Jalapia mine for nothing. Hey, have you noticed anything funny, Nick? You mean that car that's been trailing us for the last few minutes? That's it. What do you make of it, Nick? I don't know, Scubby. And I think we'll be finding out quickly enough. They're overtaking us. Better step on it. Okay, Nick. Here we go. How are we doing? That's a good, Scubby. They're still gaining on us. Can they give you any more gas? I'll try. There. Are they still coming up? Yes, Scubby. And fast. Not Scubby. They're shooting at us. You're telling me. Watch it. Here they come. Well, I've done all I can. Nick, this old bus won't go any faster. Let's try no tricks, Scubby. When they get close to us, slam on your brakes and pull over to the side of the road. Yeah? They won't be expecting that. I may throw them completely off balance and spoil our aim. Okay, Nick. You say when. Now. We'll over. Okay. Oh, boy. That was a close one. Are you all right, Nick? Yeah. Well, we won't see them anymore for a while. Get going, Scubby. We've got to make up for lost time. Well, Nick, I've got to hand it to you. You have the darndest way of getting into a cellar. Well, we had to get into verdict cell somehow. This cellar with its trick entrance from the garage looked like the safe's way, especially with those two vicious-looking dogs posted at both the front and back doors to the house. Well, they sure were big ones, too. I'd hate to meet one of them. Hey, where do you think this is going to lead us to, Nick? We should find a stairway going upstairs that's not very much mistaken. Yeah? Yeah. Here's one. All right, let's go up. Quite careful. All right, Nick, you lead the way. I'm with you. Here's the door. I hope it's open. I don't think it's locked. I'll soon fix that. All right, Scubby, come on. Wait, wait, wait. Someone's coming to the room, Scubby. Get back. We can hear through the crack of the door. I'll leave it open in a little. Well, Mrs. Verdigene, I'm certainly glad you called me up. I'm only too happy to be here at a time like this. After all, we're practically neighbors, aren't we? Oh, I just had to talk to someone, Mr. Garrick. I'm so worried about Tom and those horrible things that have been happening at the office. What do you make of all this? Well, I wouldn't worry about it too much, Mrs. Verdigene. Tom can take care of himself if he has to. What do you mean, Mr. Garrick? Nothing, nothing. But he has been acting rather strangely lately. Well, that's just it. I'm so worried. I haven't seen or heard from him all day. He's never been so late coming home from the office. Well, it's after 11. Oh, there's really nothing to worry about, Mrs. Verdigene, even in a case like this. Of course, it looks very peculiar for Tom to be missing his way, especially at this particular time. Mr. Garrick, you don't think Tom had anything to do with all this sort of... Well, Mrs. Verdigene, I like Tom very much. I would hate to think that Tom had anything to do with this murder. Well, Scubby, we don't seem to be learning much this way. Might as well go in and let him know we're here. Sure, Nick. Good evening, Mr. Garrick. Well, Mr. Carter, what are you doing here? I just came along with one of my assistants, Scubby Wilson, to talk to Mr. Verdig. We came in this way because we didn't want to disturb the dogs. Oh, really? Who are you? Oh, Mrs. Verdigene, this is Mr. Nick Carter. He's in charge of investigating Hamill's death. Mr. Carter, the detective? Nothing's happened to Tom, has it? I don't believe so, Mrs. Verdigene. I just want to ask him a few questions when he arrives. Well, maybe that's why Tom hasn't come home. Maybe he's afraid of him. Maybe that's he now. Wait. I'll go look out the window to see if that's his car. Carter, I must warn you to be careful. Verdig's a dangerous man. Tom Carter's here. Please, Mrs. Verdigene, come away from that window. You won't do him any good that way, Mr. Verdigene. Stop it, you hear me? Please. That's his car, Mr. Carter. Look, he's getting away. Come on, Scubby, let's get after him. Okay, I'll go with you, Carter. Hurry up. I want to know why he runs away when he hears my name. I hope this car of yours stays on the road, Carter. Don't worry about it, Mr. Garrick. Carter, I didn't want to say too much in front of Mrs. Verdigene. But we've all been afraid of Verdigene. All right, all right. Scubby, just keep your foot on that throttle and keep after him. Oh, boy, we sure made that one on two wheels. Nick, I'm pushing this crate as fast as she'll go, but we don't seem to be getting any closer. That car of Verdigene's sure stepped. As long as we're hanging on and don't lose him, I'll be satisfied. Hey, watch it. We're coming to a railroad crossing. So I see. Well, maybe we can head him off now. If Verdigene tries to beat that limiter to the crossing, he's crazy. Carter, I think he's going to try to make it. He can't do it. He'll be killed. That nurse that just came out of the operating room is signaling you. Oh, yes. She wants me to go into Verdig. You wait for me here, Scubby. OK, Nick. Verdig. Verdig, can you hear me? Carter, I'm a dying man. Yes, I know. I swear to you, I didn't kill Hamel or Cornish. Then why did you try to run me down with your car this afternoon? Carter, I didn't do that. All I know is that for several hours this afternoon, my car was mysteriously missing. Find it again this evening. Verdig, why did you run away from your home tonight when your wife told you we were there? How about the securities we found on you after the wreck? It wasn't you. It was securities. I took them so that... Yes, Verdig? Why did you take them? I took them so him from stealing them. Who? Verdig, who? Verdig, who's he? Office. Bottom drawer of desk. Something will lead you to murder. Yes, Verdig? Who's the murderer? Verdig. Verdig, you'd spoken sooner. You might have lived longer. Oh, Nick, I got here as quick as I could. Have you found anything yet? I think so. Scobby Verdig wasn't lying to me. I found this in the bottom drawer of the desk in the front office here. A book? Well, is that what Verdig meant? Just look at that title. Studies of various angles of bullets in flight. Well, so what, Nick? Scobby, that's the way Hamill was killed. It all adds up perfectly. Now I know why I heard only one shot when I found three empty shells in the murder weapon. Three shots were fired. But two of them were fired at a different time from the third. Well, do you know where the other two bullets are, Nick? I do. Follow me out in the hall and I'll show you. You see, Scobby, as soon as I found that book in the flight of bullets, I did a bit of looking around, and I finally found them. Where are they? In the office here? No, Scobby, in the corridor. Right over there in that dark corner, in the wall beside the elevator shaft, about a half a dozen feet from where Hamill was killed. Well, what are they doing over there? Scobby, this was a very ingenious crime. And if you watch carefully, I'll show you just how ingenious it really was. Now, you'll notice that Cornish's office is the only one facing the corridor leading from the elevator. Yeah. So what? Well, in order to shoot someone coming down the hall, the murderer, if he were in any office but Cornish's, would have to step from his office out into this corridor and be seen, right? Yeah, all right. But our murderer was very clever. I got the answer when I located the book, and when I found these embedded in the wall beside the elevator shaft. The two missing bullets? Right. Well, hey, they're all banged up. Precisely, just like the murder bullet. And that's what gave me the answer. You see, Scobby, the murderer never left his office. He stood inside the front office, the one around the corner, on the lower leg of the L-shaped corridor, and aimed at that steel pillar built into the wall over there. When the bullet hit the steel face of the pillar, it was deflected into Hamill's lungs. Look here. You see these marks in the face of the pillar here? Where? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Those are the bullet marks. Oh, gosh, Nick, that's fantastic. Hey, are you sure you're right? Positive. Don't just see, Scobby. That explains the other two shots that were fired. They weren't fired at Hamill, and they weren't fired at the time the murder was committed. They were practice shots used by the murderer to be sure he had the correct angle from which to shoot Hamill. Gosh, Nick, I've certainly got a hand to you. Yes, but we still have to get the murderer. But how? And who is it, Nick? I'd rather think that if we step back in the office and wait, we'll find out soon enough, Scobby. Oh, what do you mean, Nick? I mean that whoever it is will be in this office within the next few minutes, because after my discoveries, I made a couple of phone calls, and I invited the two remaining partners to meet me here. Shh. Here comes someone now. No. No, how do you do, Jonathan? Oh, hello, Garrick. I got your phone call, Carter, and I got here as fast as I could. Garrick, have you seen this book before? Studies of various angles of bullets in flight. Why, yes, now that I think of it, I think I have. Does it belong to you? No, it doesn't. But I remember that one day when I was with Mr. Nelson, he stopped in front of a bookshop and looked at it, rather closely now that I think of it. Yes, I'm sure it was Nelson. Very interesting. Now tell me, Mr. Garrick, when the murder was committed, are you positive that you and Mr. Nelson were in this office together? That's right, Mr. Carter. And you show me exactly where each of you stood at the time the shock was fired. Well, now let me see. I was here, facing the window, and Nelson was, well, standing right about here by the door. Mm-hmm, I see. Did you notice in which direction he was facing at the time? Yes, I remember. This way, facing the corridor. In other words, the way he was standing, you could see him only in profile. That's right. Well, there's no question that that's how it was done, Scubby. The murderer planted himself in this office so that he could establish a strong alibi. He then took the gun from his pocket, unseen by the other person in the room, who could see him only in profile, and then fired it at that steel pillar. Then he ran into the corridor with a rest. After Hamill was dead, he dropped the gun into the umbrellas and in front of Cornish's office. Well, Carter, do you mean that Nelson is the one who... How do you do, gentlemen? Did I hear my name mentioned? Yes, Nelson, you did. Why did you kill Hamill and Cornish? Please, Gary, don't be ridiculous. Oh, Nelson, does this book look familiar to you? This book? No, I can't say that it does. You sure you'd never seen this book before? Now that you mention it, I may have glanced at it in a bookshop at one time or another, but then I look over a lot of books. I like to browse. I see. Nelson, see how you approve of this story of Hamill's murder. Yes? The killer knew of Cornish's criminal record, and he figured he could embezzle some of the firm's money and pin it on an innocent man. Then when he found out that Hamill was becoming suspicious and was having the account checked, he became panicky and afraid that it might not work out the way he had planned. So he decided to kill Hamill. Then when he happened to overhear Hamill's conversation with me over the telephone, he hurriedly borrowed Birdic's car without Birdic's knowledge and tried to get rid of me. That's an interesting way out, Mr. Carter. Have you also a theory as to who the killer is? I have. By the process of elimination, it has to be either you or Mr. Garrick or an unknown. And I've already proved that I didn't do it. It must have been an unknown then, Mr. Carter. I certainly didn't kill Hamill. I had nothing to do with the murder. When the shot was fired, I was right here in this room with Mr. Garrick. He can testify to that. He has already, Mr. Nelson. In fact, Mr. Carter, I was standing right here, facing the window when the shot was fired. Oh, no. That's where I was, Mr. Carter. Standing here at the window. Now, please, Garrick... Please, gentlemen, please! You don't have to argue about it. I know who was at the window, and I know who fired the fatal shot. Scubby. Take a look at the fly leaf of this book. Why are they, Nick? They look like the scribbles that some guys draw and they have nothing else to do. Oh, doodles, they call them. Exactly. While I was looking through the various officers, I found some papers with these same doodling marks on them in one of the desks. And these marks were made by the murderer. Garrick, I arrest you for the murder... Watch out, Dickie! Stop it! Stop! Well, Scubby, pick up the pieces. Oh, boy. There's the murderer, Garrick. He's also the man who tried to murder you and me last night in the road to Garrick's home. Well, I'll be... Yes, he's Scubby. Garrick has his suspicions about Garrick. That's why we found those securities on him. He took them so that they wouldn't fall into Garrick's hands. He'd suddenly found out that Garrick was an unscrupulous crook, and that was the reason he ran when Mrs. Garrick called him. He saw Garrick at the window and was afraid of him. Well, Nick, I must say he had me fooled when he said that Nelson was standing at the door of the office here when he was really there himself. Yes, and telling us who was in this office, the murderer had just reversed the positions in which he and Mr. Nelson were standing when the murder was committed. But once I saw the marks on that flyer leaf, I knew who stood where, and that's why I had Nelson come up here to force Garrick's hand. Well, Nick, one weighs as good as another as long as you get results. And you always seem to do that. Well, you finally decided to come back, did you? Yes, but it's all over. Well, I think you can go home now. Why, Mr. Carter, are you sure you can spare me? Why not? You've been so busy on this case all night, Mr. Carter. You may not have noticed that it is now a new day. And a good secretary is always on the job the first thing in the morning. Shall I take a letter, Mr. Carter? This was another strange experience of Nick Carter, master detective, called an Angolan murder, or Nick Carter and the mystery of the mutilated bullet. Another of the curious adventures of Nick Carter, which are brought to you by W.O.R. Mutual. And, Onik, what's next week's story all about? Well, when this case was first brought to me, it seemed so routine and uninteresting that I practically turned it down. But it was far from routine once you got into it, wasn't it, Nick? Yes, indeed. So far from it that I almost got myself bumped off investigating it. It's really the story of a man who thought he was so much cleverer than Nick that he could outwit him every time. I don't suppose he got away with it. No, he found he wasn't really so clever after all. Like practically every criminal I ever met, he gave himself away by being too clever. It sounds like an interesting tale, Nick. Not only interesting, but downright exciting. But more of that next week. So long, folks. So long. And so long to you, Nick and Patsy. In the strange adventure you've just heard, Nick Carter was impersonated by Lon Clark, Patsy by Helen Chote, and Scubby by John Kane. The story was written for Nick Carter by George Gordon. Original music was played by Lou White. The entire production was under the direction of Jock McGregor. Next week, listen to another curious experience of Nick Carter entitled The Body on the Slap. This story is a copyrighted feature of Street and Smith Publications Incorporated. Beginning Wednesday, November 3rd, the return of Nick Carter, which is produced in the studios at WOR, will be broadcast over most of these stations on Wednesday evenings at 8.30 Eastern wartime. Remember the new time? Wednesdays at 8.30 Eastern wartime, beginning Wednesday, November 3rd. This is Mutual.