 The Adventures of Frank Wraith, starring Tom Collins. Many things were changed during the war. The face of the earth was altered, and the people of the earth changed. Before the war, Frank Wraith was an attorney, but he traded his law books for the Cloak and Dagger of the OSS. And when it was over, his former life was over too. Adventure had become his business. The Adventures of Frank Wraith. New York in the spring, just after a rain, with the sun sneaking a look at you now and then. Everything glistened, particularly the girls in those transparent raincoats. I was walking right alongside one of them, a blonde who was putting ideas in my head when... Mr. Wraith, Frank Wraith, hey! It was Mark Donovan coming in fast as usual. I crawled into his cab, a vehicle that looked as though it must have gone through the Battle of the Bulge. I've been looking all over for you. Call the company apartment for minicondental maritime underwriters. Guy named Chalmers Latham. An interesting piece of news. Start beating those signals, Mark. Guy named Chalmers Latham. I remembered him from the Rotterger viewers. First family, good-looking, shoots golf along with the pros. Frank Marriwell in business. He drew salary as an executive vice president in charge of claims. And at the moment, he wasn't happy. I don't believe we've meant before, Ray's. I don't believe so. I heard of you through McCormick, our chief adjuster. Tony, aren't you? That's right. The OSS during the war, quite a lot of foreign service, decorated several times. You've got me. Might I ask, why you prefer not to practice your profession? Well, I got fidgety in courtrooms. It's a handicap, irritates the judges. I'd like to point out, Ray, that the function of this office is to adjust claims, not to investigate them. But you've had one come along that looks fuzzy. Not one, two. Two freighters operated by the same firm. A claim in each case is for total loss. How did they go? Overdue and presumed lost. Frankly, they just disappeared without traces. Chip, cargo and crew. Well, it sounds like an interesting assignment. As I just mentioned, our function is to adjust claims and, well... You don't want to make a fuss. You understand. Now, the claims may turn out to be perfectly legitimate. So I suggest that on the surface, you make it apparent that you're not working for us. Pardon me a moment. Pardon me. Yes? Put Mr. Ninon. No, no, wait a second. I'll talk to her out there. Excuse me a minute, Ray's. Quite all right, Ray. He took at least 15 minutes. And when he came back, he kept moving around, smoking rapidly. Are you free this evening, Ray? I could be. I'd like to take you to Sally DeNines for dinner. Informal or white time? White time. I'll pick you up at eight. I left Latham's office and headed for the elevator, but I never quite got to it. The interception came in the shape of a Ponty personality with a pair of eyes that reminded you of grapes, peeled grapes. His face was round and without guile, and he spoke with the voice of a choir boy. We're taking the stairs. Well, I'm not seeking exercise. You know, that's a long way down. I said we're taking the stairs. You go moving your flippers and you'll pick up a crop of bruises. I got the feeling I'd pick up more than that. Those orbs told me he'd been smoking a brand they don't advertise. We took the stairs. Stay close to the buildings. And remember, one funny move and I'll plant a slug in you. There were several cabs around, but no sign of Mark Donovan. We walked about four blocks to finally turn into a short blind alley, a loading dock. On hand were a couple of citizens who'd been fair game for any dragnet. One of them was an ordinary hood, but the other... Well, you remember the way your bootlegger used to dress when business was good? Slouch hat, double-breasted chest of you. Hello, Reese. My name's Jacqueline, Eddie Jacqueline. Shouldn't that make me happy? I'm not here to stall around. What'll you take to turn down that job for Intercontinental? I might be able to answer that better if I knew what they intended to pay me. Now you're doing the stalling. Like I told you, Eddie, you don't have to offer him no dough. Just let me push him around a little. Like this? Great words! I heard you were pretty handy with that commando stuff. Well, he could have been friendlier about things. Walk me several blocks without uttering a civil word. I try to be friendly with people I do business with. You may as well get it straight, Jacqueline. I'm not doing business. Ah, I had an idea you'd say that. So I made plans. With a 45 in your hand. I respect you. Nemo flag is a cab. All right, Reese. Drift toward the street. Jacqueline gave the cabbie an east side address and we'd lurched away. Our flying start made me glance at the driver. I had to swallow a grunt when I saw it was Mark. His eye on the mirror caught mine and I got set for his play. When I wasn't long in coming. Getting a clear stretch ahead, he gunned the cab to about 50, then slapped on the brakes. I had braced myself and when Jacqueline and Nemo went forward, I grabbed both of them behind the heads and pushed hard. Get him outside, Frank. Get out, Jacqueline. On your head, Frank. I was conscious of a sickening splash and we all sprawled on the pavement. Nemo and I came up together and I went at him with the sharp edges of my hands. He took two or three and then broke away into camps. Come on, Reese. Let's get out of here. Fine fare you tine out to be. Wait for me, says the man. And that is the last I see of him. Well, if you've been watching, you'd have seen me come out of that building with a gun barrel bruising my backbone. I took five minutes maybe to snag me a cup of coffee. How much coffee do you drink in a day? This is only my ninth cup. Earth since noon, it is. Eh, why don't you have some more? Mark, do you know about a family named Danine? Oh, the big shots. Yeah, I know. Paul Moran wants it twice. There is a girl that's a pip. Do they own ships? That's right, sure. The girl and her brother had a big court fight in 44. Hit all the headlines. Some kind of battle-bud running a company. No, we weren't reading very many newspapers in 44. Eh, what is cooking on all this, anyway? Dinner at their home this evening. On the way over, Latham had briefed me on the family, but at that I wasn't quite prepared for the militant aunt who presided over the household. Miss Danine's aunt, Kerry Ferrell, must have been about 45. Her complexion had the look of freshly stirred oatmeal. She spoke in tones that seemed to be directed at someone behind you, about 50 feet behind you. Kerry's Mr. Ferrell always seemed to be smiling, apologetically, as though he felt himself to be a traitor to his sex because of being her husband. Race? Well, that's an odd name, isn't it? Has anyone ever told you that the race doesn't always go to the fleetist? I'm afraid that doesn't quite make sense, Kerry. It does to me. I'm sure it does to Mr. Race. Come along. Sally isn't here yet, but we won't wait for her. We were dabbling with the chocolates who flay, and I was wondering why Latham had bothered to set this up when she appeared in the doorway. You know the loveliness of someone affects you gently, like the sampling of fine wine. With Sally Danine, it reached out and took you over the lapels and said, look at me. She wasn't a blonde. She didn't need to be, not with that coloring, not with that thick, dusky hair. Her eyes were large and sultry. When they settled on me, I wasn't conscious of where I was. Sorry I'm late, everybody. Hello, Chalmers. What have you been doing lately? I'm fretting about your ships. Oh, bother the ships. That simply amazes me the way you all accept the situation so resignedly. What else can we do, Chalmers? None of us here knows a thing about shipping. Bob does, or should. By the way, Sally, where is your brother? I thought he'd be here tonight. With me here? Don't be silly, darling. I wanted to see him because, well, I'm going to be frank with you. I hate to have to do it, but I'm forced to investigate the loss of those two vessels. We'll keep it as quiet as possible. And I gather that Mr. Race will do the investigating. Yes. Whatever you think best, darling. As Uncle Matt said, we know very little about shipping. Nice dinner, Latham. I enjoyed it. What did you think of them? Interesting people. Do they share ownership of the company? Sally and Auntie and Brother Bob. Farrell is in only to the extent of marriage. How are they financially? I'm not sure. You see, Race, I have an emotionally interesting affair, isn't it? I caught them. How soon can you leave for San Francisco? That's where the ships are? Most of them. Well, I'll be phoning for a reservation while I change the clothes. Good. And, Race, there'll be a thousand-dollar bonus if you make good use of that discretion of yours. Frisco and Fogg. According to all reports, they're like bread and butter, particularly in the spring. So the sun was a newly-mitted gold piece. The only cloudiness visible was in my taxi driver's face. As the car in front of us made a left turn from the right-hand lane. The cabbie dropped me to a hotel that matched the weather. The Mark Hopkins. And while I was smudging the register, I heard myself being paged. I signaled the bell, and he led me to the bar. Sally was there. Surprise, Mr. Race? Frankly, yes. What will you have to drink? A bourbon and soda, please. Since you'd like to know, I've wheedled your destination out of Chalmers, Latham. What did you use to get out here? A rocket? Well, I imagine I caught an earlier plane. Trust I don't look travel-worn. You look... Well, if you don't know how you look, you're not the girl I think you are. There's a compliment. I'm afraid that one is tinged with cynicism. No, I'm not being cynical. I may get that way later, but I'm not now. I like you, Race. You might. What about Latham? Will you believe me? If you level. I'm leveling, Race. Thomas doesn't know I'm not interested. It isn't my fault. That's good enough for me. Let's drink to the new cities. Your acquaintances. Let's drink to ours. I spent the next couple of days kicking around and asking questions about the missing ships. And I drew a lot of blanks. Then I ran into Sally again at night in the lobby of the hotel. Tell me, Race, have you been avoiding me? I've been circulating around. That's the way I earn a living. And Carrie and Uncle Matt flew out. I'm having dinner with them. Why don't you join us? Here at the hotel? No. And we have a house out here that we keep open the year wrong. St. Francis would. How about dinner? Well, I'll enjoy that. But I'm afraid I'll be a little late. See, there's a ship in the harbor I want to have a look at. The hack and sack victory. Oh, that's one of ours. I know. Maybe you'd like to go along. Couldn't we make it tomorrow? Think of what it'll do for your appetite. You're a very persistent man. The hack and sack victory is an exact counterpart of the two ships that disappeared. You don't have to come if you don't want to. I'll come. We found the hack and sack victory with the gangplank done. When we reached the deck, I led Sally aft to a cabin door that bore a brass plate identifying the quarters belonging to the master. The captain may not like this. Don't happen to know him, do you? To the best of my knowledge, I've never even seen the man. Well, what do you want? Well, we just thought we'd like to have a look wrong. Well, we've got no time for sightseers. Captain, this is Miss Sally Deneen, one of the owners. Now, how would I know then? Maybe you'd like to see a drive? You're not interested. I'm sorry, but you'll have to go, as sure. I think we'd better do that race. He's perfectly within his rights. All right, Sally, but you say so. Wonder how far we'll have to walk to find a cab. You're starved and I'm curious. What about? The world is full of sounds, mostly words. Your mind is watching while your ears listen, surprising what people will tell you without intending to. Have I told you anything, race? Without intending to? You didn't want me aboard that ship. Oh, that's ridiculous. You know, there's something funny about it, about the master's cabin. They've been redecorating it, did you notice it? All that cluster of wood shavings on the floor and the smell of paint. Maybe you didn't notice. Not particularly. They've been doing something to the ceiling beams. Now, why would they do that? Race, why don't you forget your job? She stopped, she said this. So I stopped too. I reached out, took over the shoulders. I didn't have to do anything else. Her arms went around my neck, and for a few minutes I did no thinking whatsoever. When we broke it up, Sally seemed a little shaky herself. That was nice, race. I thought so too. So we have that dinner now? If you don't mind, I'll pass it up for now. And in the meantime? I'm going back on that vessel. We'll return to the Adventures of Frank Race in just about one minute. And now, back to the Adventures of Frank Race. There was something wrong with the hack-and-sack victory. I was sure of that. And I couldn't drop the feeling that Sally Deneen was in on it. The gangplank of the ship was up, so I picked a mooring line and managed to hand over hand passage that put me aboard. No one seemed to be around, but the master's cabin was unlocked and I pushed my way in. It was the same lad. He started to be trucking it again until he glimpsed the smith and the wesson in my hand. Well, what do you want now? Just a little talk. Why don't you sit down? First, I'd like to know why the remodeling job, the beam up there. I don't know what you mean. That beam has just been cased with another piece of wood. Very skilfully, too. Why would anyone want to do that? This vessel carries a serial number. It's to be found on a vengeance, on a compass, on a keel. And it's usually carved into the main beam of the master's cabin. Who'd want to be changing all that? I thought maybe you'd like to tell me. I'm not saying a word about anything. Maybe you'll target police headquarters. Put on your coat. You can't arrest me. Where's your authority? In my hand. Get that coat on. He was right. I had no authority. But somehow I was going to get him inside a police precinct. We left the cabin and went to the waste. We got halfway down the game plank. That's you, Kennedy. Yeah, but watch out for this fellow. He's hijacking me. Well, well, if it isn't race. Going somewhere, race? They were at the foot of the gangway, all of them. Jacqueline, grape-eyes, and Nemo. Take it carefully. He's got a gun on my side. We got rods, too. Three of them. Why don't you try coming by, race? Listen, Jacqueline. Listen carefully. I'm coming down with Kennedy in front of me. And you lads are going to back away to the left. Make any bad moves and I start blasting. I've forgotten the grape-eyes wasn't exactly the rational type. I never cared for high dyes, but it was either Jacqueline or a jackknife. I must have been a sad sight parading around with that oil slick all over me. But I paraded. At police headquarters, I wrote a description of Captain Kennedy and swore on a warrant for his arrest. Then I went to the hotel and scrubbed myself for about an hour and crawled into bed. I slept hard until... Yes? Good afternoon. No, hello, you. I'm sorry about last night. Adventure reared its delaying head. Oh, let's go get busy. Ooh, ooh, ooh. Is this for dinner? In your honor. St. Francis Wood? That's it. I'll be there scrubbed and cold. 122 Rowland Lane turned out to be an attractive sort of place, moderate style, not unusually large. When I got inside, I was provided with the surprise of finding Chalmers Latham on hand. He drew me to one side. Anything to report? First, you told me. Did Sally Daneen and her brother ever patch up that disagreement they had a few years ago? No. No, they never patched it up. Where is the brother? Have any idea. Does anyone have any idea? What are you getting at? If the brother were to die, would Sally come into any money? One of the best of my knowledge is Will cuts her off with a customary dollar. Shh, there's Carrie and Matt. I'll talk to you later. Well, what have you been doing with yourself, Mr. Ace? I suppose I could say I've been looking for victory ships. Oh, are there a lot of them? Good heavens, my dear. There were hundreds of them built during the war. And many a welder lost his life working between their double hulls. Some of them weren't built very well. A number of them are broken apart at sea. And that could have happened to ours, couldn't it, Ace? Hmm, yeah. You look pensive, Ace. Didn't you hear me? I said you look pensive. Yeah, it must be this cigarette. I'm trying a new brand. Oh, come now, Ace. Or maybe it's because I just realized what happened to those two vessels. You what? All right, Ace, let's have it. If you own ships, insured for a quarter of a million apiece, it's sometimes profitable to collect that insurance, isn't it? Quite profitable. But it would be more profitable if you could collect the insurance and still have the ships, wouldn't it? More profitable and less open to detection. What are you driving at? Victory ships. And the fact that so many of them were built. Ships that are exact duplicates except for their registry. Some of them are worth a quarter of a million. Others you can pick up as salvage for a few thousand. Please come to the point, Mr. Ace. The hack-and-sack victory was originally bought for a salvage price, wasn't it? I think so. I believe our company had it refitted. That happens to be my point. The hack-and-sack victory was never actually rebuilt. What? The hack-and-sack victory is really, isn't, the hack-and-sack victory at all. It's the Jackson victory, one of the ships you were supposed to have lost. Why, you must be insane. It makes quite a picture. You have a sound vessel insured for a fat amount. You buy a battered sister ship for a couple of dimes, sink it somewhere, then transfer its identity to the valuable ship and declare the good one lost. Sweet maritime racket for somebody. But who, who among us would do a thing like that? I'd beg your pardon, Madam. There's a phone call from Mr. Ace. It was the hotel relaying a message from police headquarters. They picked up Kennedy and wanted me to come in and identify him. Sally had come to the phone with me and I told her about it. Never mind calling a cab. We'll take my car. Come on. What could I say? We went to the car and blew out of there. Took me several minutes before I realized he was headed away from the city instead of toward it. I let out a yelp. Just relax, race, and everybody will be happy. Well, you little nanny, what are you trying to do? I'm sorry, race. The company's been losing money for some time. I guess that brother of mine just couldn't take it. But I care for him, race. I care for him, even though we don't get along. I care for him too much to see him disgraced. My little idiot, slow down. Don't move, race. I'll wreck us if you do. I knew what I had to do. Grab the wheel with one hand and hit it with the other. It'll be touch and go, but... Have you ever tried to stop a speeding car with an unconscious girl flopping all over you? I took time out to make sure she wasn't too badly hurt. Then I swung the bus around and headed back. She came around pretty soon, but didn't say anything. Just sat there letting me make the plays. The police had Kennedy all right in the hospital. But it wasn't easy to identify him. His features had been altered too much. And he was unconscious, almost dead. I left the place and Sally and I drove slowly back to St. Francis Wood. It was pretty late by then and the house was dark. But I went in anyway. In the dim light of the living room, I took Sally in my arms. And in spite of what I had done to her, she responded. All right. And we care for each other the way we do. Is it necessary for you to be so hard about things? Can't you work for me instead of the insurance company? Sally, what do you think happened to the crews of those two ships? I don't know. It hadn't occurred to me. It occurred to me. I believe they were murdered. And Sally... Yes? I think your brother has been murdered too. Oh! I'll take it, race. I'll let her. She needed something to concentrate on after a wallop like that. Quite a lot of conversation seemed to come from the other end. Oh, yeah. That's good, I'll... Finally, still holding the phone. Sally turned to me. It's the police. Captain Kennedy is regaining consciousness, but they don't expect it will be for long. They want to know if you have any suggestions. Yeah, let me have them. Hello. See if you can get a statement from him, will you, Inspector? And keep driving at him with one name, Matthew Ferrell. Keep repeating it to him, and I think you'll blow the whole thing wide open. That's funny. What's the matter, race? The line seems to have gone dead. It's been dead for several seconds, race. I cut it just before you offered my name to the police. Uncle Matt! He stood there fully dressed, and he was gripping what seemed to be a luger, gripping it steadily. What made you suspicious, race? In New York, you said you knew nothing about shipping. You spoke of welding double hulls. And then I imagine there's a will, isn't there? Bob Denene's will, leaving his share of the company to you and your wife. My wife had nothing to do with it. No, I can believe that. And you're going to have nothing to do with it. Either of you. I'm sorry, Charlie. He had a gun on me, but he was looking at Sally. It was a chance I had to take by Dovah. It's all right. He's... dead. Yes. Had to be him, or us. Yes, Sally, I know. Violence isn't part of your world, is it? You really don't have any courage. We were... we were all right. Until you came. I am sorry to disturb your sheltered little world, Sally. But hiding from things doesn't make it a better world than mine. Maybe we'd better take a rain check on each other. And give Charmers Latham a message for me, will you? Just tell him there's no charge. This one is on me. The Adventures of Frank Gray, starring Tom Collins, came to you from Hollywood. The series is written and directed by Buckley Angel and Joel Murkott. The music is composed and played by Ivan Dittmars. Be sure to be with us again this time one week from today for another dramatic chapter in... The Adventures of Frank Gray. This is a Brucells production.