 Thank you, Tony Lafreno. Family theater's only purpose is to bring to everyone's attention a practice that should become an important part of our lives if we're to win peace for ourselves and peace for our families and peace for the world. Family theater urges you to pray, to pray together as a family. And now to our transcribed drama, Cover Up, starring Marjorie Steele as Nadine. The three of us stood in the crowd under the hotel archway in the warm summer darkness and waited for the parking attendant to drive up with Bill's car. I reached over and squeezed his hand. It was simply a formality now, getting Mr. Harvey to sign the contract in the morning. The big account, the one that would put us over the top. I remember thinking, it's funny, the people who make your dreams come true. With me, it's a little gray haired man from Cleveland who sells can openers. I really feel I'm imposing on you, young lady. Not at all, Mr. Harvey. In the first place, Nadine likes nothing better than driving that sports car of mine. But I can very easily get a cab. Oh, no, no. Well, how will you get home, Bill? I'm just down on Sunset, less than a mile from here. I'll catch cab. Oh, that doesn't seem fair. Mr. Harvey, now that you've decided to let Bill handle your advertising, I better warn you, he never loses an argument. Don't I know it? Look here, I'm a very reasonable man. Don't argue with your secretary. Oh, before I go, I've got to check with the desk on that New York call of mine. Look, I'll see you in the morning, honey. Good night, Bill. And Mr. Harvey, I can't tell you how privileged I feel to be associated with you. Well, I think we're going to get along very well, Bill. Ten o'clock tomorrow. In my office. I'll have the contracts ready. I'll be there. Good night, and thanks for the dinner. Not at all. Night, baby. Good night, dear. Hey, he's a very bright young man. One of the brightest. Miss Longdon, I hope you won't think what I'm about to ask is, well, silly or hidebound. Oh, I know. Well, it's going to sound silly, no matter how I say it, I suppose. But you remember that man I nodded to in the lobby just a few minutes ago? Well, yes. Well, he's an industrialist from Cleveland. I know him slightly. Oh, here's our car. I don't have time to explain now, Miss Longdon. But would you mind picking me up around the side of the hotel? Why, of course not. Well, is anything wrong? No, it's... Well, I'll tell you in a few minutes. I'll go back into the lobby and out through the side entrance. Will that be all right? Well, anything you with. Fine, fine. I'll explain the whole thing then. Well, good night, Miss Longdon. Good night, Mr. Harvey. I watched him go back through the dwindling crowd under the archway towards the wide glass doors to the lobby. Just as he reached, then he waved to a tall white-haired man standing nearby with two elderly women. I climbed into the front seat of Bill's car and handed the parking attendant a quarter. The sloping driveway down to Sunset was backed up with cars waiting to turn into traffic. It took me almost ten minutes to get around the corner to the side entrance where Mr. Harvey was standing alone on the curb. Well, that seemed to be causing you a lot of inconvenience this evening. Oh, not even a little. Hop in, Mr. Harvey. That big white-haired fellow belongs to a few of the same clubs I do back home. Oh, I understand. And all I'd have to do is be seen in Hollywood by Charlie Parker and his wife driving off in a convertible with a good-looking young woman. I understand perfectly, Mr. Harvey. Well, that's very good of you, Miss Longdon. Say, speaking of convertibles, what is this thing, English? No, it's German make. Bill just got it a few weeks ago. Well, that doesn't look much bigger than a roller skate. How's it handled? Like a dream. Want to try it? Well, I don't know. I've driven a couple of those little English jobs. No difference at all. We're just going straight up Sunset. Well, if you think Bill wouldn't mind. Of course not. Here, get behind the wheel. Mr. Harvey swung the car around slowly and we turned out into the boulevard headed west. Traffic was light and Mr. Harvey hugged the right-hand side of the road, never going over 30. Ten minutes later, we turned off at Bel Air. Say, you're right about this little buggy. You like it? All you have to do is just touch the accelerator. It's got a lot of vinegar in it. Yeah, it keeps you on your toes. I know. For the first week after Bill bought this, he had arm cramps from hanging onto the wheel so hard. You feel if you don't hold it down. Oh, Mrs. Langdon. What's the matter? Take the wheel. Mr. Harvey. Pills in my pocket. Mr. Harvey, look out. There's someone in the road. I felt the car bump something as Mr. Harvey slumped forward over the wheel unconscious. We were doing about 30 and it took all the strength I had to shove his head back and hold the wheel steady. I snapped off the ignition with my free hand and gradually the car slowed to a stop. There was no sign of traffic on the road coming from either way. And for some reason, I still don't know why, I shut off the headlights. Mr. Harvey was breathing heavily. I felt his pulse was weak and irregular. I took one of the pills in the small box in his pocket and forced it between his lips. His eyes flooded slightly and closed again. Then I climbed out of the car and ran back along the road. The man had been thrown about 15 feet and he was lying on his side with his right leg twisted under him. I struck a match. It was about 40 thin and light-haired dressed in work denims. His eyes were open. Get me into a doctor. Where? What has it hurt? My leg. Well, I shouldn't move you. Please. I'll send a doctor right away. Well, don't leave me here. If I move you, it might make it worse. I'll get a blanket from the car. I'll only be a few minutes. Mr. Harvey had partially regained consciousness by the time we got to his hotel. The night clerk and one of the bell hops helped him onto a sofa in the deserted lobby and sent for the house doctor. I had just begun to open his collar when his eyes flooded open. I've got a pain in my chest. Just lie still, Mr. Harvey. Did you have any trouble stopping the car? No. No, we weren't going very fast. Good. Good. Lucky there wasn't any traffic. What? We might have run into something. A few minutes later, the doctor arrived and gave Mr. Harvey an injection. He'd had a heart attack. The doctor called it a coronary occlusion. And he wasn't out of the woods by any means. Any excitement or emotional upset might be fatal. I thought of the man in the work items lying alone in the darkness under Bill's car robe. If he didn't try to move, another 10 or 15 minutes might not matter at all. I crossed the lobby to one of the pay phones. Operator? I want to report an accident in Bel Air. It's an emergency. I can tell you roughly where it happened. And oh, you'd better have the police send an ambulance. When I finished phoning, I went out of the lobby and got into Bill's car. I parked at a dozen yards from the entrance and as neither the night clerk or the bellhop had seen Mr. Harvey until I helped him into the lobby, the chances were they hadn't seen the car either. I started the engine and drove along Bel Air, away from Sunset, across Amparo to Beverly Glen and North, all the way to the valley. As soon as I got home, I called Bill and the next morning in his office, we tried to decide what to do. Honey, this is a bad one. It's hit and run. Well, what would you have done? I'd take it easy. The doctor stood right there in the lobby and told me that any excitement or anything that might upset Mr. Harvey... I know, I know, I know. If the poor man already knew he had hit someone, I'd say, all right, what's the difference? But he didn't. He passed out before it happened. Well, according to the paper, this chase guy's got a badly fractured leg, but they think he's going to be all right. He was so pitiful. You did all you could, honey. Moving him would have been a mistake, even if you could have got him into the car. Oh, everything was running through my head all at once. If anything happened to Mr. Harvey, we wouldn't get the contract. I know that's a nice way to think, but... Look, honey, don't give yourself a hard time. Right now, the main thing is to keep us all out of this. I know. It's going to take some doing, too. Uh, this man Chase is a gardener who works around some of the estates in Bel Air and few of his employers are mighty indignant, so there's some important pressure on the police to come up with something. I can imagine. You sure Chase didn't get a good look at your face? Well, I just struck one match, and he was in such pain. No, I don't think so. Huh? Well, you remember as if it was a girl. Well, it still doesn't give them too much. Nobody thinks he was hit by a sports car. That's narrowing things down a bit. Well, I... I guess we'd just have to keep it out of sight for a few days. You sure no one else has got a key to that garage of yours? The landlord, but he wouldn't have any reason to go in there. I don't think we'd better bank on that. How bad is the bump on the fender? Well, it isn't much. The glass and the right headlights crack, though. Uh-huh. Now we're going to have to get that fixed. But, Bill, won't the police be checking with repair shops for a banged-up sports car? They're looking for a car owned by a girl. Well, even so. So I just look even more suspicious the other way. I tell them, the papers are full of this. If they see me around without the car for a couple of days, where am I going to tell them it is? Bill, I... I think we ought to go to the police and tell them the whole thing. Honey, it's a criminal charge. They'd have to take action against Harvey. The whole thing had come out. Well, maybe the police wouldn't have to tell them what happened until he was better. How long do you think that'll be? A few weeks, maybe. Look, it can take months. A man of Harvey's age with a heart condition doesn't really get better. He just stops getting worse. Well, when you come down to it, Harvey isn't the one who ran away. I did. So maybe they wouldn't even have to arrest him. That's not the point. And I had a perfectly good reason for what I did. Even if the police didn't go after Harvey, Chase's lawyer wouldn't... Chase's lawyer? ...suit for damages. Harvey's a wealthy man. They'd file a suit against him and be out in the open. I... I suppose... Look, don't get me wrong. I think Chase is entitled to damages, but let's be a little realistic about this. If anything happens to Harvey right now... I know. Yeah. That sounds pretty cynical, doesn't it? No, it's true. There wouldn't be any contract or anything. That's what I mean, honey. How are you going to get the car fixed without attracting attention? I think I've got a scheme worked out. We'll go pick it up tonight. Two of the afternoon papers carried stories about Mr. Charles Harvey, the wealthy hardware manufacturer from Cleveland, who had suffered a severe heart attack in his Bel Air hotel the night before. Both items were brief, neither made any mention of a female companion, and each concluded by saying that Mr. Harvey had been taken to Mercy Hospital and was still in a serious, although not critical condition. There was no attempt on the part of either paper to link the Harvey stories with the hidden run-axe in which it occurred at just about the same time in the immediate vicinity. That night, Bill made arrangements to rent a U-drive car. In a few minutes past 11 o'clock, we pulled into the alley behind my apartment building. You see the open the lock, okay? Mm-hmm. Want to take a look at the fender? Yeah. Don't turn the light till I get the door down again. Okay. Yeah. Mm-hmm. You're right. That isn't so bad, honey. Lucky it's on the right side, too. How do you mean lucky? Because the kind of accident I'm going to have usually happens on the right side of the street. The kind of accident? I've got to bang up this fender all over again, only worse than in front of witnesses. But, Bill... It's the only way, honey. If I bring it in to get it repaired this way, it may, you know, maybe ask a lot of questions I can't answer. Oh, I know, but... Whereas if I swipe it against a parked car somewhere tonight, when it happened, then we're in the clear. Oh, but it... It's dangerous. Not the way I'm going to do it. Twenty miles an hour on a quiet street, and I'll report it to the cops myself. Oh, I still don't like it. Neither do I, baby. What else is there? Nothing, I guess. Okay. Now, you go on upstairs, and I'll give you a ring when I get home. Hmm? It'll be about an hour. I went up to my apartment and waited. The time seemed to crawl. I went out of the kitchen and made a pot of coffee and sat down to read the newspaper. The next time I looked up at the clock, it was 12.20. Five minutes later, the phone rang. Hello? Honey? Oh, Bill, is everything all right? Uh, yeah, I think so. You weren't hurt? No, no, nothing else has come up. What about? When you were driving Mr. Harvey home last night, did he mention anything to you about seeing a man named Parker at the hotel? Parker? Mr. Charles Parker. He just phoned me here at my place. He says he's from Cleveland, too. Oh, yes. Yes, now I remember. He says he just saw on the paper tonight about Harvey's heart attack. I guess he got my number through the hospital. Is that the case that Ronnie messaged us for Harvey? Yes, I remember him now. Mr. Harvey didn't want him to see us driving away together from the hotel. He what? Well, he was afraid Parker would get the wrong idea or something. I mean, Harvey wasn't in the car when you drove away? No, he went back through the lobby and came out the side door. Bill, what's the matter? Nothing about it. He sounded like nothing but a big busybody, so I didn't even try to stop him. Stop him from what? He also saw on the paper about the hit-and-run accident last night in Bel-Air and that the police were looking for a girl driving a foreign sports car and he says he saw one leave from the hotel last night about that time and maybe there was a connection. You mean he's reported it to the police? Yeah. He said she drove away alone, so I didn't think it could possibly be you. Well, didn't Parker say he saw Harvey talking to me? No, not a word. Well, he did. He couldn't have missed it. Bill, he must have had a good look at the car. He said he could give the police a description. And you told him to go ahead? Well, he didn't describe it to me. I told you he said the girl was alone in the car. I thought it was someone else. I thought he, well, that I would throw them off. I didn't even ask him for a description. Honey, what are we going to do? I don't want to go to jail. Oh, you're not going to jail. But he saw me talking to Harvey. All right, but he didn't tell me that, so maybe he won't tell the police. What would stop him? He thinks Harvey went into the hotel and I left alone. I'm not so sure what he thinks. Now, let's just keep our heads, honey. All he really saw is the car. And me. Yeah, but from a distance. Bill, I think we ought to go to the police and tell them everything. Honey, we have been through all that. It'll blow everything sky high. It might even kill Harvey. But he's got to find out sometime. Maybe he doesn't. Not if we can ride this thing out. Now, look, just give me a little time. I've got to think. Bill. At least give me until tomorrow morning. If by then it looks like there's no other solution, OK? We'll go and tell the police. I want you to promise, Bill. I promise. Now, will you stop worrying and try to get some sleep? I'll see you in the morning, huh? All right. Good night, honey. It was about 9.30 when I got to the office the next morning. Bill hadn't come in yet. But when I called his hotel, I said it already left. I sat down at my desk and started through the mail. At 10 minutes of 10, the door to the outer office opened. Excuse me. Is this Mr. William Walters' office? Yes. But I suppose I could see him for a moment. My name's Weber L.A. Police. Well, Mr. Walters isn't in yet. Oh, you expect him soon? Well, yes. Well, I'll wait if you don't mind. Uh, is it anything I could help with? Well, thanks. But I think I'd better speak to Mr. Walters. Well, I'm his private secretary. Morning, honey. Bill. Oh. Excuse me. This is a Mr. Weber. A detective Weber, Los Angeles Police, Mr. Walters. Yes. What can I do for you? Well, I wonder if you could clear up a little problem for me. Hm? You glad too, if I can? Well, one of our offices turned in an accident report in which your car was allegedly involved last night. Oh, over on Formosa, I ran into a parked car. Well, it's my fault. I accept full responsibility. Well, that part of it's all right. This is just a round-rubbing check we've been making for the last two days on all foreign sports cars that have brought in for body repairs. Any particular reason? You probably read about in the papers. There was a hit-and-run accident over in Bel Air two nights ago. The victim thinks it was a sports car. Oh, mine didn't get banged up until last night. I realize that. We double-checked with the officer this morning. Uh, what is it that you want me to clear up for you? It's about your car robe. My car robe? Yeah. Your dealer says he sold it to you. A red one. It's a pretty common type. We've checked out over a half a dozen in this case so far. What about it? Well, whoever hit the guy in Bel Air, use one like it to cover him up while they went to call the police. Oh. Yeah, but yours isn't in your car, so if you can just produce it, I'll check you off the list and get out of your hair. Bill. I mean, wait a minute. Uh, anything wrong, miss? Bill, it isn't any good. It isn't any good. Yes. You want to tell me about it, or should we go downtown? The captain in charge of the case was a thin, mild-looking man with a deceptively soft voice. He sat quietly behind his desk while Bill and I dictated our statements to the police's denographer. When we were finished and the girl had taken them out to be typed for our signatures, the captain leaned back in his chair and gazed at us thoughtfully. That's very interesting. Very interesting indeed. There's just one thing, Miss Longden. Why didn't you come and tell us this the night of the accident? Captain, I think that's been made very clear in the statement. I'd prefer Miss Longden to answer me if you don't mind. Well, I told you, I was afraid the shock of learning he was responsible for a man's injury. It might affect Mr. Harvey's heart, didn't I? I see. But you could have told us, Miss Longden. We wouldn't have said anything to Harvey. But it might have gotten into the papers. Not unless you told him. Well, I couldn't be sure of that, and I was frightened. Quite naturally. And then, too, there was always the possibility that Mr. Harvey's attack might prove fatal in which case your story would go unchallenged. What? What do you mean? I mean, I don't believe it. I don't think Harvey was driving that car at all. I think you were. But you can ask him. That's just what you told me I can't do because the shock might kill him. It's very good, Miss Longden, very good indeed. You put me in the spot of having to accept your story or else take the risk of killing a man to disprove it. Captain, look, Harvey was driving. How do you know you weren't there? All you've got is her word. Which I believe. Well, I don't, not on the evidence. Not one witness saw Harvey in your car much less behind the wheel. I told you how that happened. And at his hotel in Bel Air, the desk clerk and the bellhop saw me bring him in. That doesn't prove he was driving the car. And I think it's very illogical that he should have been. Well, he was. Mr. Walters, are you in the habit of letting other people drive your car? Well, no. Bill. Oh, it's out of you. I'm not. Have you ever told Miss Longden that she could let someone else drive it? No. Never come up. It wouldn't have occurred to me. Then let me put it this way. If she'd requested permission to let someone else drive it, would you have given it to her? Well, it would depend on who it was. Let's suppose it were someone who had never driven such a car before, someone unfamiliar with it. Well, no. I'm probably asking her not to. Bill, what are you trying to do? I'm just answering his questions, honey. What's the point of lying about it, then? You think I'm lying? Oh, of course not. I'm just saying if it were up to me, I would have tried to talk Harvey out of driving the car. The biggest client we've ever had? I take it then, Miss Longden, that Mr. Harvey was rather insistent about wanting to drive the car? Well, no. I wouldn't say he was insistent. But you just said your reason for letting him take the wheel was because he was a big client. You wanted to keep him happy. Well, that's right. But he didn't insist. To tell the truth, he didn't even ask. He didn't even drive it. Bill, that's the truth. I believe you, honey. You don't believe me. I can see it. Miss Longden, why don't you tell us how it really happened? I have told you. Mr. Harvey never got behind the wheel? He did. I picked him up around the side of the hotel. That's right. And then you drove him out a long sunset. He was driving. And you turned off at Bel Air, and this man Chase was walking along the right side of the road, but you didn't see him in the dark. That's right. But I wasn't driving. Mr. Longden, what you did was perfectly natural. The shock of the accident being what brought on Mr. Harvey's heart attack. Oh, that's not how it happened. You had to get him to a doctor right away. I've told you that. So you ran back to Chase and covered him with the car robe, and when you got Harvey to the hotel in Bel Air, you called the police. Yes, that part of it's right. Well, then why don't you admit the rest of it? Well, I can't. Honey. It isn't true, Bill. Look, there's no trouble so bad. Let's throw it together. But it isn't true. Baby. I know why you don't believe me. You think if I was willing to lie to the police, I'd lie to you. No. Well, you can't very well blame him, Miss Longden. But I'm not lying. I... All right. All right, Captain. Well, that's more like it. You say I was driving the car when it turned off onto Bel Air. Yes. And that it was the shock of the accident that brought on Mr. Harvey's heart attack. That's right. So if I've been lying up to this point, Mr. Harvey already knows about the accident. He saw it happen. So it can't shock him to be questioned about it. Well, now just a minute. No, no. This is your theory, Captain. If I was driving, it's the only one that makes sense. So why don't you go ahead and test it? Ask Mr. Harvey if he remembers any accident. According to you, he'd have to. You've got a pretty smart secretary, Mr. Walters. I'm not smart. I'm just telling the truth. Harvey was driving. So if you ask him anything, you'd better be careful how you do it. I think I believe you, Miss Longdon. I think I'm beginning to believe you. All I can say is I'm sorry. It's all right. I'm just glad they got the truth from Harvey without letting him know what happened. Yeah. And Chase will get his damages. Harvey's lawyer is going to take care of that. What about the contract? I don't know. Maybe when he gets better, we'll close the deal. I hope so. All of a sudden, it doesn't seem very important. Bill. You know, you were right about why I, for a moment, you know, why I didn't believe you. I know. I'd been lying so much myself for the last 24 hours, I'd begun to think it came easy to everybody. I know. But you did it for me. Yeah, maybe. You did something better for both of us. You told the truth. Well, it's like I told you the other night. Yeah. Don't argue with your secretary. This is Charlton Heston again. For a moment, I'd like to talk about Indians in psychology. There was an Indian adage which translates roughly, to learn bear hunting, one must follow the bear hunter. In other words, to learn how to hunt bear, the wise thing to do is to talk to someone who's done it successfully. It's not something you learn from your grandmother or from some well-meaning friend who thinks he knows how it should be done. That old Indian adage works for a lot of things besides bear hunting. In the Department of Psychology, for instance, you might say that Dr. Carl Jung enjoyed a degree of success in life and might therefore have something worthwhile to teach us about life. In his business, for instance, Jung is considered the top authority. In fact, he's the founder of one school of psychiatry. We might then not go too far wrong in considering what the good doctor has to say about some of the most fundamental things in life. Now, according to a recent article in Time Magazine, when asked whether he believed in God, Jung answered, I don't believe. I know. Concerning his practice of psychiatry, he says, I have treated many hundreds of patients in the second half of life, that is, over 35. There's not been one whose problem in the last resort was not that of finding a religious outlook on life. These are statements from a man thought by many to be one of the world's truly outstanding psychiatrists. A man who should be an authority. The very name of his profession means healer of souls. Family theater agrees with Dr. Jung in this regard that a happier, more peaceful existence is what he had when you answer what the doctor calls our eternal religious needs. Family theater, too, encourages you to include God in your daily lives through prayer. For by praying, you answer a need God builds in every human being. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. From Hollywood, Family Theater has brought you transcribed cover-up starring Marjorie Steele. Others in our cast were Lamont Johnson, Fred Shields, and John Larch. The script was written and directed for Family Theater by John T. Kelly, with music composed and conducted by Harry Zimmerman. This series of Family Theater broadcasts is made possible by the thousands of you who feel the need for this type of program. By the mutual network which has responded to this need and by the hundreds of stars of state screen and radio who give so unselfishly of their time and talent to appear on our Family Theater stage. To them and to you, our humble thanks. This is Tony Lafranco expressing the wish of Family Theater that the blessing of God may be upon you and your home and inviting you to be with us next week when Family Theater will present Fairy Tale starring Jack Haley. Deborah Padgett will be your hostess. Join us, won't you? Family Theater has broadcast throughout the world and originates in the Hollywood studios of the world's largest network. This is Mutual, the radio network for all America.