 Johnny dollar dollar. This is Raymond Tillerton, Tillerton. Well, what can I do for you, sir? Can you come over here and see me right away? You're in your office at this time of night? No, no, no. What sort of a matter would you like me to investigate, Mr. Tillerton? Well, look, Mr. Tillerton. Right away, please. Well, unless I have some idea about your problem, it's very important. Well, it certainly sounds like it, but I... Well, I'm coming immediately for it, but currently I'm... Now, look, Mr.... Hello. You, Mandel Kramer and the exciting adventures of the man with the action-pact expense account. America's Fabulous Freelance Insurance Investigator, yours truly, Johnny Dollar. The expense account submitted by Special Investigator Johnny Dollar to Eastern Liability and Trust, Home Office, Hartford, Connecticut. Following is an account of expenses incurred during my investigation of the no matter matter. Raymond Tillerton was new to me. I'd never even heard of the man, but Eastern Liability and Trust was an old and generous client. So in spite of the fact that it was after 11 p.m., I put on a shirt and tie, spent Item 1, 470, for a tank full of gas and drove across town to the Kearnsley Arms. It's not the newest of apartment buildings, and after riding up a shaky old elevator, I landed on the fourth floor. It was lighted by a single fly-spec bulb at the far end of a dingy hallway. Now, let's see. Tillerton said 4A, and... Oh, here we are. Kind of light on in there. Mr. Tillerton? He was so badly worried about something. Maybe I can slip this lock with a card. Lock this vintage ought to be a lead pipe sent. There we are. Mr. Tillerton, are you in here? Excuse me, Miss, I must have come to the wrong apartment. Brunette and beautiful. Her brown eyes were wide open, staring at the floor, but they weren't seeing anything. She didn't move. There was no sign of breathing. Her chest was perfectly still. And above the pocket of her silk blouse was an ugly hole with a powder burner on it that must have been made by a gun at close range. I didn't touch you, but I looked around for a telephone. Mr. Tillerton? Maybe there's a phone in the bedroom. Let's see. I'll find a light switch in here. There we are. Good. There's a telephone. I'll take your word for it. Well, are you sure? I can see a bit of light around the edge of the tightly-drawn shades. My head felt the silhouette been split wide open. Somehow, I managed to reach over and pick up the phone and call the police before collapsing again this time on the bed. How long I lay there, I'm not sure, but then I wake in and staggered into the bathroom and doused my aching head with some cold water. Now, don't tell me the great Johnny Dollar has to beg for help from us for guys on the force. I said, listen, officer, there's been a murder here. No kidding. A murder? That's right. See for yourself. It's this girl right over here. What girl? She was here, I'm sure, but she was right here in this chair. Who? A girl, I'd tell you, a brunette, a good-looking young brunette. And she was dead, eh? Yes, she... Wait a minute. Where is she now? You tell me, Johnny. I tell you, she was lying there in that chair. When? Last night when I came here. Yeah? What time? I don't know, sometime after 11. Had a late date with her, eh? I don't know who she was. Oh, she was that kind, eh? Look, when I came in here, she... What's the matter with you? Don't you believe me? So what really happened, darling? A tie went on and dream it all up? No. You sure look it. You see any sign of her around here? No perfume, no cigarette butts with lipstick, no nothing. Sitting right here, eh? Yes. Then how come this lamp isn't on? I don't know. You didn't turn it off, doller? No. Wait a minute, I remember now it wasn't on before. That's why I didn't notice her at first when I came in the door. Well, didn't she let you in? No. Then who did? Nobody, I... No, come off it, doller. I don't know what you're trying to pull off. Okay, how was she killed? You answer me that. There's a bullet just above her heart. You take it out and examine it, eh? So you can tell us what make and model it came from. And where's the smell of chloride you always get when a gun is fired? When me, I can smell that stuff for two days after it. Listen to me, Orson. Why don't you listen to me, huh? What kind of a gag is this? What are you trying to do, huh? What's this all about? Well? I wish I knew before I left the place. Yes, sir. Apartment 4A is leased by Mr. Tillerton, all right. But what's in your business? Well, that depends. And what does that policeman doing here? And why'd they talk that way to you when he left? And who are you? Don't worry about it. Well, just a minute, young man. Don't you walk out on me. The soda counter gave me a jolt of something to clear my head. Then on to the spirit building to the office of Mr. Raymond Tillerton, who had started all this. I'm Johnny Dollar. Dollar, did you say? That's right, Johnny Dollar, Mr. Tillerton. Well, insurance investigator, aren't you? Sure, and I'm not collecting funeral money for a brunette. When you're what? Don't play it so cool. Let's start with that phone call you made to me. Phone call? To you? Yes, to me. Well, I don't even know your... When, Mr. Dollar? Last night, 11 o'clock. What call do you think I'm talking about? Look, Tillerton, I'm in no mood to play games. But I didn't, Mr. Dollar. The only phone calls I made there in New Haven were yesterday afternoon. Oh, they were, hmm? Well, how come I recognize your voice? Wait a minute. Did you say New Haven? Yes, I spent all of yesterday and last night in New Haven. You mean to say that you were to your apartment at the Kearnsley Arms last night? I told you I was in New Haven. Why? Now, look here, Mr. Dollar, will you please tell me what this is all about? I asked you a question. Very well, I was visiting my mother. It was her birthday. Your mother, hmm? Yes. Where does she live in New Haven? A little house at 1034 Coaling Avenue. Why? Why pouncing on me like this? Why all these questions? You don't know? No. I don't understand what this is all about. Believe me, Mr. Dollar, believe me, please. You really mean that, don't you, Mr. Tilletton? Of course I do. I simply don't understand this, Mr. Dollar. Is something wrong? Yes, very wrong. The same one I'd heard on the phone, that I'd heard in his apartment just before the roof fell in on me. Item three is $3 even, train fare to New Haven, and a taxi to the address on Coaling Avenue. It was a large, rapid knife, but very old fashioned home near a busy shopping section, and a kindly, gentle, gray-haired lady invited me in. Yes, Mr. Dollar, I was 87 yesterday. She was the only woman I had ever seen in my life. And it was so nice to have one of my boys with me all day to celebrate. Of course. Raymond's in the insurance business, you know, in Hartford. Yes. He's doing very well, too, and just terribly busy all the time. But he took the whole day off just to come and be with me. That wasn't that nice. Yes, it was indeed. Tell me, when did he leave you, Mrs. Tilletton? Oh, he stayed here with me until after seven. Yes, Mr. Dollar, I was 87 yesterday. Think of that, 87 years old. He stayed here with me until after supper. Only at his dinner, really. You see, he brought me a lovely birthday cake. Wouldn't you like a piece of it? It's very delicious. Oh, no, thank you very much. Point is, he had time. Oh, for what? To get on back to Hartford, to his apartment, to call me, and then... Yes. And what, Mr. Dollar? Nothing. Nothing that you need worry about. Thank you, Mrs. Tilletton. I'm sorry, I pulled up at the curb. As she climbed out of it, stopped me in my tracks. She was a dead ringer for the girl I'd found murdered in Ray Tilletton's apartment. Same age, height, figure, everything. Except that this one was a blonde. Why the big eye, Mr? Is my slip showing? Oh, no, no, Miss, I'm sorry, it's just that... Yes. Um... Are you going into seeing Mrs. Tilletton? Well, I don't know that it's any business of yours, but yes, yes I am. I'm sort of an old friend of the family. Oh. My name's Clara, what's yours? Johnny Dollar, but tell me this. Johnny Dollar, the investigator? That's right. Oh, thank goodness. I want to talk to you, Johnny. Well, that makes us even, then, because I'd like to talk to you. No, I mean about something very important, John. So do I. Well, then, look, there's a little bar and grill just around the corner, Danish place. Maybe over a drink, huh? Why not? Moving into the gloomy interior of Danny's place after the bright sunlight was like suddenly stepping into the middle of midnight. By the time, I'd clumsily stumbled against a table near the door. I know. It's kind of dark in here. Oh, certainly empty, too. The end of the bar sat one lone customer his back tortoise. There was no sign of a bartender. Oh, here, here, Johnny. We can take this table right here. Yeah, all right. What happened? Did they run out of electricity in this place? Certainly looked like it. A little bit of light might help answer a few questions for me. Questions, Johnny? Yes, Clara, like, um... well, like how you happened to show up at Mrs. Tillerton's just as I was leaving. But I told you, Johnny. Because you tailed me down here from Hartford, maybe? Tailed you? Because you figured maybe I'm on to something and you might be better off playing on my side. Johnny, I don't know what you're talking about. Oh, wait a minute. A trap for me? Is that it? And who's the lone customer sitting there at the end of the bar? Friend of yours? Johnny, I don't know what you're talking about. No? All right, then let's put it this way. What happened to the silk blouse with the phony bullet hole above the pocket and the powder burns? And I am keeping an eye on that guy at the bar. Well, Clara? Phony bullet hole? Powder burn? Yes. To make you look dead. Oh, but that doesn't make any sense. Where? When? What are you talking about? Come on now, quit stalling around and take off the blonde wig because it is a wig, isn't it? And you are the same girl that I found supposedly murdered. Okay. Okay, so the hair is phony. But this isn't, Johnny. Oh, I see. No, no, don't wrap to your end. Don't move. Make a practice of waving at 25 automatic at people? Yes, when I need to. And right now is one of those times when I... Now, don't move. And don't turn around. Boyfriend. Okay, Tilly. Okay now. You come over and finish him off. Okay. Just keep the gun on, Clara. One of his tables is in blue to the floor. No. Brow is in both from somebody coming up in the back of me is a little too much. But if I turned away from her to take care of him I'd have ended up with a 25 caliber slug in me so I'd chosen the lesser of two evils. Hey, Johnny. When I came to this time the old policeman was bending over me. Hey, Johnny. Hmm? Oh, they really laid one on me, Dollar, huh? Oh. What? I went through your pockets and found your ID. Johnny Dollar Investigator. Yeah. Oh, wow. Officer, did you see them? Did you see where they went? They? Two of them. A girl and a man. No. It must have seen me coming and skipped out the back. The back door is open. No. But I'd heard a shot from across the street knowing that Danny's place was supposed to be closed. Closed? Yeah, sure. Ever since we figured maybe Danny was partners with that guy, Tillerton. Tillerton. That's right. Tilly. The punk that one day we're gonna grab for pushing dope around here. I see. Anyhow, when I heard the shot, well, lucky for you, I'm always keeping an eye on this joint, but maybe it wasn't Tilly that slugged you. No, it was Tillerton, all right, Officer. I could tell by his voice and she called him Tilly. OK. Now we've got to charge against him. If we can find him. He's just leaving to me. Ain't no way, Dollar. I'll see you later. We'll ride back to Hartford. I drove on over to Tillerton's office in the spear building. No, I'm sorry. But Mr. Tillerton hasn't been in this afternoon. I don't doubt it. All right. Miss, thank you. He's out of the office, you know. Outselling insurance. Don't back on that. I will see if he's stupid enough to have pulled up back here in the currently arms instead of getting out of town. You are? Yes. Suppose you tell me why. Well, because of this morning at my office, you said some very strange things. Yeah? Then after you left, I got a call from the superintendent of this apartment. He said that you and a policeman had been here last night. And that surprised you. Yes, of course it did. And there were all your questions about where I'd been yesterday. Look, Tillerton, I just paid a visit to your sweet and unsuspecting mother. You were checking up on me? You know I was. Well, then you know I didn't lie that I was with her yesterday. Sure, until after supper. But after that, come on, let's have it, Tillerton. Well, I had someone else to see there in New Haven. I stayed in a hotel there. In New Haven? Hmm? Why do you say it that way? Because you came on back here to this apartment to set up the phony murder scene then to call me. Murder scene? Yes, that brunette. That's the dog. I suppose it's mixed up in the narcotics racket with you, Tillerton. Oh, the word narcotics makes you blanch a little, doesn't it? Yes. Anyhow, you got me here with your call and thanks to her, you threw me off guard long enough to slug me from behind. No. And a pretty good job of it too, Tillerton, but it didn't leave me dead. You didn't know that, though, until I showed up at your office. Then when you figured I'd see your mother, you tailed me down there, you and your cute little playmate. And there you made another try. But why, Tillerton? Why gun for me? Because you got an idea that I might be under your dope racket? Warren. Well, I wasn't not then, but I am now. Warren, Mr. Dollar. What? My brother Warren, my twin. They call him Tillie. Your brother? Look, I know different because your mother told me that Warren is dead. No, no, Mr. Dollar. It was Warren that I went to see last night there in New Haven. Once more. Just once more to plead with him to straighten himself out before it's too late. It doesn't wash, Tillerton. He's dead. To mother? Yes. To mother, Warren is dead. By telling herself that, by believing it, she can reject him. The way that her religion, her beliefs, and her heart all tell her that she must reject him because of all the wrongs that he's done. Now, wait a minute, Tillerton. I've tried to help him, Dollar. God knows I've tried. I've tried to straighten him out. Not only for mother, but for himself. But he only hated me. Why? Because of the money that mother will leave to me and not to him. Don't you see, Dollar? All right, suppose all that is true. As God is my witness. And it's true that your mother's piety and religion are so strong she won't even acknowledge her own son, Warren, because of his sins? Yes, it is true. All right, but it still doesn't explain what's been going on here. The phony murder, the attack on me. But it does explain. Don't you see, it was made to look as though I'd done these things. And even if he aroused a small suspicion on mother's part. She'd cut you off, too. Yes. Even only the slightest hint of wrongdoing. And he told me last night that if he were to be out of mother's will, he'd see to it that I was, too. That somehow he'd get me involved in a scandal, in something. That's it, Dollar. That's it. It's the reason for all this. Okay, I'll take your word for it, but why call me in? Because he knew I'd come here alone where the police might have sent a whole squad around, and that would have shown up his trick with the girl. Yes, yes, that must be it. And because of his voice, he knew I'd think it was you. Real good theory, Dollar. What? Well, well, beauty and the beast. My brother, Warren. That's right. And me. And don't make a move, either one of you. So you like our theory, huh, Tilly? Yeah, Dollar. Too bad you're right. Too bad you know. I told you, Tilly. I told you, Dollar, was the wrong pigeon to pick. He'd get wise. So what? You think it's going to do him any good? Not now, baby, not now. Could be you're wrong, Warren. Yes, Warren. Listen to me. Well, what do you think you're going to do? We've got the guns. See? That's right. Including yours, Dollar. From back in New Haven. That cop coming around is all that saved you. But you know what happens now? Suppose you tell me, Warren. Sure, Dollar. Sure, I'll tell you. Oh, why waste the time? First I take care of Ray here with your gun. And you with Clara's gun. But whose prints do they find on them when they find you here? Nobody's but yours. Yours and Ray's. Go ahead, Kelly. What are you waiting for? Maybe for you, Clara. Just let go of me. Well, Mr. Tellerton, it looks like you and I got lucky. Yes, and he killed her, Johnny, when you grabbed her and he turned and fired. This time she really is dead. Johnny, the chance you took. She had her gun on you when you rushed her. She might have killed you. I'll tell you something, Mr. Tellerton. I've never seen a girl who was really fast on the trigger. And I hope I never do. You know something else? The part I'm really grateful about is that one more dope peddler is out of business. And Warren is, you can be sure of that. Excess account total? 11.45. So forget it. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Here is our star to tell you about next week's story. A week. A heist. But with one of the most unusual twists in many a day. Tune in, won't you? Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Do you like a car with plenty of pep? A car with reserved power for safe passing? Most good drivers do, but they don't like to pay extra for premium gasoline. Listen, in three out of five cars, regular priced Sinclair Dyno Gasoline matches performance of premium gasoline's saves you up to four cents a gallon. Almost anywhere you see the Sinclair dinosaur sign, you can save up to four cents a gallon with dyno. Drive with care. And buy Sinclair Dyno Gasoline. Johnny Dollar is written by Jack Johnstone, produced and directed by Fred Hendrickson. Johnny Dollar is played by Mandel Kramer. Also featured in our cast, Richard Keith, Guy Rep, Arthur Cole, Ethel Everett, Evelyn Juster, Bill Lipton, and Constance Simon. Music supervision by Ethel Huber. Sound patterns by Walter Oppen. Technical supervision by Mike Schuss. Be sure to join us next week. Same time, same station for another exciting story of yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Art Hanna speaking.