 Autolight and its 96,000 dealers present suspense. Tonight, Autolight brings you Miss Claire Trevor in Angel Face, a suspense play produced and edited by William Spear. The flowers are blooming this spring, Charlock. I have nothing to do with it. Hey, hey, hey, half. You better save that for the bathtub, or consult a voice expert. Seems to be an expert for everything these days, Wilcox. Everything from voices to spark plugs. Take Autolight spark plugs, for instance. They're designed by Autolight Ignition Engineers. The men who engineer spark plugs, just as they engineer coils, distributors, wire, and all the other important parts of the ignition system to work together as a perfect team. Why, the skill of these ignition engineers has made Autolight spark plugs world famous for their quality and dependability. Ignition engineered Autolight spark plugs, you might say. Yes, sir, and these same Autolight engineers developed the famous Autolight resistor spark plug, one of the greatest advances in spark plug design for automotive use in the past 20 years. Real experts. Hey, Wilcox. Right, you are happy. So friends, see your friendly Autolight spark plug dealer tomorrow. Have him replace worn out spark plugs with world famous ignition engineered Autolight spark plugs. And whether you choose the resistor type or the regular type, you can't buy a better spark plug for your car because you're always right with Autolight. And now with Angel Face and the performance of Claire Trevor, Autolight hopes once again to keep you in suspense. Whom did you wish to see? I see her already if you don't mind out of my way. They've got a doorman downstairs in this building. You're supposed to get yourself announced, honey. The name is Wheeler. Does it mean anything to you? I had caught Ruby Rose Redding, the noted burlesque queen at breakfast time. Hers not mine. Quarter to three in the afternoon. Breakfast with a tomato and lettuce untouched and a glass of bromo seltzer. She banged her cigarette to death against an ashtray and looked me up and down like auditioning me for her chorus line. Wheeler, what's it supposed to mean? Are you his mother? I'm a little young for the part, but I'm the only one he's ever had. Oh, now I get it. The big sister act. Okay, run through it once and get out of here. Sure. I don't mind coming right out with it in front of your maid if you don't. Yeah. Suzette, take her around the block a couple of times. Well, take him again. Maybe you can get him tomorrow already. What am I doing? Get out of here! Wait, madame. Well, I'll give it to you short. I want you to lay off my brother. Your brother? Now, let's see. What am I supposed to have done to him? He's been spending money like wild. Money that doesn't come out of his salary. And another thing, he started wearing a gun about two weeks after you started wearing him. Did I teach him to shoot it, too? No, but I think some of your friends may have. Oh, you've been reading the gossip columns. Well, I read them, too. Some big gun from Philly is supposed to be paying my rent. Forget it, honey. That's my publicity. Now, will you get out of here and let me get my massage? Look, give him a break, will you? Pick on someone your own size. Well, of all the... Hey, I've heard of wives pulling this bit and even mothers. And once in a picture, it was the old man. Now, it's his sister. Well, send Grandma around tomorrow. Out, out! Beat it! I walked out past her. If she touched me, I think I'd have murdered her. Oh, I went for a walk. Why aren't you at work? I quit my job. You did? Chick. You aren't going to Chicago with that dame, are you? Why Chicago? Well, it's in Variety. Ruby Rose is opening a club there. It also says a big shot gangster from Philly is backing it. Oh, what? Well, does he know about you? What are you trying to do? Scare me off? Oh, no, you're such a big shot that wouldn't work. All that about that guy? That's nothing but publicity. Ruby told me all about it. Oh, yeah, sure. Oh, look, sis, you don't know her like I do. Oh, Chick, I'm not going to let you get mixed up with this. No, no, cracks, Jerry. Look, Ruby Rose Redding makes good money, all right. But the rent on that plush line wrap trap she lives in, if you can call it living, is around 3,000 a month. Not somebody's paying those bills. Oh, nuts, what do you really know about her? More than you ever will. I'm in show business too, you know. I'll lay off, will you? Chick, wait, listen. I heard enough. Chick, please. Get away from the door, Jerry. I never raised a hand to you in my life, and I don't want to now. I won't let you go, Chick. Not for her. Not for something that ought to be washed out of your hair with gasoline. Get out of my way, Jerry. Oh, don't go, Chick. You're heading straight for the eight-ball. Chick, Chick, don't go to her. Dissolved two girls sitting at kitchen table playing very solitary solitaire. About four that morning I was looking for an aspirin when the doorbell buzzed. Chick, I... Chick, I... You're a cherry-wheeler, aren't you? He was nice. I found out his name later, Lieutenant Nick Burns. The other one had a face like one of those cobblestones they dug out of Eighth Avenue when they tore up the trolley tracks. Your brother, what time do you leave here this evening? I really couldn't say. My clock's out of order. Miss Wheeler, your brother was going to Chicago with Ruby Rose Redding, the dancer. You knew that, didn't you? Oh, now, why would he go anywhere with anyone with a name like that? Your brother went to the Alcazar Apartments at 8.15 tonight and beat up this Redding thing. What? Then he put his two big thumbs on her throat and throttled her until she was dead. You're just saying that. He's just saying that, isn't he? That's the way it is, Angel Face. Well, he didn't do it. Please, please, he didn't do it. All right, I... I didn't know about him and Ruby Rose, but... but he couldn't have done that. I've been on the squad eight years, Angel Face, and we never in all that time caught a guy as dead to rights as your brother. He showed up with his release in the foyer of the Alcazar at exactly 12 minutes past 8 tonight. He said to the Dormin, what time is it that Miss Redding sent her baggage down, yet we've got to make it train? Well, she had sent her baggage down, and then she changed her mind. She had it all taken back upstairs again. There's your motive right there. Well, that doesn't prove anything. She... The Dormin rang her apartment and said through the intercom, Mr. Wheeler's here, and she gave a dirty laugh and sang out, I can hardly wait. I don't see that. So what? So she was alive at 13 minutes past 8. The Dormin went out for coffee at 8.15 At 8.20, Ruby Rose asked the operator to give her the police. She was shrieking with fear. At 8.32, I arrived. Your brother was crouched over, shaking her, and she was dead. Oh, no. There were two thumbprints on her neck, as well as the marks of a big signet ring where she'd been pummeled. The initial W for Wheeler. Is that a case or isn't it? What was Chick wearing that ring when you arrested him? No, but there's a ring mark on his right third finger where he got rid of a ring he'd been wearing a long time. He pawned it. He needed money. Oh, thus he lost it. Well, even if he did hit her, how do you know somebody else wasn't in that apartment just before Chick showed up? Where was that French maid of hers? Discharged, got her notice in two weeks' pay and left around six story checks. Did Chick confess? Oh, no, no. He was crouched over, shaking her, trying to restore her, he said. All right. All right, I'll tell you everything. Write it down. Yeah, that's more like it. I went there this afternoon and told her if she didn't lay off my brother, I'd kill her. I came back home. Found Chick packed up, ready to leave. I tried to stop him. He hit me. Asked the neighbors. They heard his rowing. He struck me and I couldn't stand it. I beat it up to her place in a taxi. Got there first, went in the back way and gave her one last chance to leave him alone. She wouldn't take it. She was all soft and squashy and I just grabbed her by the neck and pushed her. I've got big thumbs, too. Got all that, Kohler? Uh, yup. Well, that about puts a lid on it. Let's go. Yeah, let's... Wait a minute. Yeah, Angel Faye? Aren't you going to take me? Who wants you? Oh, you think this is one of those phony concessions? Well, maybe the newspapers won't think so and they'll be right. Maybe you did do it at that. Maybe I'm underestimating it. Who is she wearing? Pajamas. You're right. That was a good guess. See you later, Angel Faye. The way he said it, I couldn't tell whether it was a threat or a promise. I never saw him again until after the jury had found my brother guilty of murder in the first degree. Auto-light is bringing you Miss Claire Trevor in Angel Faye's tonight's production in Radio's Outstanding Theatre of Thrills Suspense. Oh, speaking of experts... Experts, did you say? That reminds me of auto-light ignition engineers, the men who design and build complete ignition systems used as original factory equipment on many makes of America's finest cars. They're ignition experts. So naturally they know how to build auto-light spark plugs so they'll work as a perfect team with all the other important parts of the ignition system. That means they know how to build into spark plugs the best in quick-starting, smoother performance and gas, Molly J. Harlow. Righto, and say it's the skill of these same auto-light engineers that made possible the development of the auto-light resistor spark plug, one of the greatest advances in spark plug design for automotive use in the past 20 years. Edge-wise. How's that again happen? Just trying to get a word in edge-wise, Harlow. Well, here's the last word, Happ. See your friendly auto-light spark plug dealer tomorrow. Have him replace worn-out spark plugs with ignition-engineered auto-light spark plugs. Whether you choose the resistor type or the regular type, you'll be right because you're always right with auto-light. And now auto-light brings back to our Hollywood soundstage our star, Claire Trevor. In angel face, a tale well calculated to keep you in... suspense. I was coming out of the courtroom in a wet hen frame of mind and guess who had an umbrella? Hello, Angel Face. Get away from me, you butcher. That girl feeling better already, huh? Just keep out of my way. Wait a minute, Angel Face. Let go of me. You need help, baby. I'm trying to give it to you. All right. Tell me the name of the little man who wasn't there. Wasn't where? In that courtroom, standing trial for her murder in place of Chick. Can't you see it's got to be another... Oh, what's the use of trying to send you? Oh, go on. Tell me. Convince me your brother didn't do it and I'm with you up to a hill. Well, why did you wait till now to say that? Well, you didn't give me anything to go on. Nothing but that phony confession of yours. Well, it was better than the purged testimony of that doorman and that phony French maid. And you, you sat up there with your face hanging out and put in your two cents worth. Look, Angel Face, I was sent by my superiors and answered to the patrolman's call that night. Question, shake and put him under arrest. Don't hold that against me. What do you care whether I hold it against you? You really don't know? No. Look in the mirror sometime and find out. Right then I decided to stop holding it against him that he was a detective. I kind of like the guy and maybe, just maybe he could find a way to help clear my brother and over a couple of Manhattan's in a cheery little bar I told him so. Uh-huh. Well, you got a plan, Angel Face. Are you going into a blind? I think I'll start with that French maid. Why her? She left two hours before the murder. That's lovely. Yeah, maybe so, but she was graced plenty to soft-pedal of one right name that belongs in this case. She may not have been there, but she knew who to expect around. She may even have tipped him that Ruby Rose was throwing him over for chick. But if she's been paid off enough to commit perjury, what makes you think she'll tell you anything? I'll club it out of her if I have to. One second here. Try this first. Use a little intimidation when it may work. A hundred and fifty bucks. Uh-huh. Hey, aren't you married or anything? Not yet, Angel Face. Now here's her address. Suzette Leblanc, real name, Susie White, 435 West 54. The street had been roped off and there was a block party or something going on. Anyway, it was noisy. I elbowed my way up the steps of 435 and found Susie White's name on the bell panel. I broke my best fingernail on the button. No response. I pushed into the hall past the drunk falling out and fought my way through the fumes to the stairway. Her door was standing open. The lock was broken and the molding was a mess of splinters. This was the point where the private eye always finds the dead body, but I didn't find anything. Nobody had taken the room apart. I wondered if they had found what they were looking for. When I hit the street again, the ugly-faced front I had passed coming in was standing by the front steps and there was a fresh wood splinter clinging to the elbow of his coat. I remembered the splinters on the broken door upstairs. I stopped next to him and made like straightening my seams. I looked good that way. Then I started walking fast. So did he. He paused in some of the steps leading down to a basement apartment and waited for him. Hello, beautiful. Well, how are you? Just fine. Is this your house? Yes, indeed. I'll buy a little drink, baby. You'll fight me in. Sure, you go first. He hit the unrailing with his head on the way down and the paving stones at the bottom to the rest. It was right there in the first pocket and behind his wallet. A letter addressed to Ruby Rose Redding and postmarked Philadelphia. I am over here. Hello, Angel Face. I know. I know you didn't find her. I may as well tell you why. She doesn't live there anymore. They fished her body out of the Hudson about a half hour ago. Oh, what are you, smart detectives calling it? Suicide? I might as well. Listen, she was being paid off by Rose's. He must have decided he didn't dare leave any bets uncovered. What certain friend, for instance? This certain friend, for instance. I watched his face as he read it. I knew every word of it by heart. It said, dear Ruby, I hear you've been running around with some punk. I don't believe a word of it, but you better get rid of them before I hit town. We'll be in New York Friday night. We'll be in Atlanta instead. About that punk. Drop him or I drop you. Nilt. So that's her missing name. Note Meletus. Plays rough, too. Runs a Calcutta Club. And Friday night, Nick. The night she was killed. Meletus. The initial on that ring could have been M as well as W. I never thought of that. And maybe she wanted out. Could be. You could sell me, but I convince easy from you, baby. You're not selling it to the grand jury. She had something on Meletus, and that's why he couldn't afford to lose control of her. Well, what Ruby Rose Reading could squeeze out of a man I can? Yeah, what he's squeezed out of her he could also squeeze out of you. Namely, your breath. Oh, yes, but I have a friend on the force. Well, maybe Ruby. Rose had a friend on the force, too. Why do you say that? She didn't. It would be the only department she missed. Oh, what now? Come and catch my act at the Calcutta Club. Go on, look them a little higher. Don't be coy. Look, I sing and dance, and that's all. Got any numbers with you? Numbers? Look, what are we wasting time for? Let's meet the guy who does the hiring. Hey, wait a minute. Mr. Meletus wants you. She says she wants to meet you, Mr. Meletus. Sure, why not? Hello. Hello yourself. Oh, Mr. Meletus. You know, I've always wanted to work for you. Okay. We'll start the Calcutta tomorrow night. Oh, thank you. Buy yourself some up-to-date lyrics, get yourself a dress. Mac will tell you the kind I like. The silver dress they put on me fit like a wet compress. I wore it for two nights and milked Meletus sat at its table. On the third night, after my last spot, after the orchestra had gone away, I got the message from Garcia. Hello, baby. Hello. Angel face, huh? Yeah. My name is Faye Angel, so I call myself Angel Face. Good tag. Sit down, Angel Face. I gave him my warmest high-voltage smile and took out my compact. I saw my eyes in the mirror, and in each iris there was a little electric chair with chicks strapped in it. That made it a lot easier to keep the high-voltage running through milk and Meletus. He was good-looking in a swarthy, loose-lip sort of way. Nothing to tag them as a gangster except his name and a habit of keeping his right hand in his coat pocket all the time as if he were holding a gun. We talked through the bottle of champagne and he ordered another. I kept smiling because somehow I had to get into his apartment. We went back to what we'd been talking about and I said, well, some night I might just feel like changing the scenery around me. The Zalve to girl entering the Meletus apartment on Park Avenue. It was a duplex with a two-story living room and a bedroom opening off a balcony. I decided to start at the top and work down in case I needed to get out of there fast. I gave his bed from the suspicious wife treatment. In the night table I found the nine letters to Ruby Rose and a bunch of treasury certificates. The kind doctors have to make out to get narcotics. In a box containing studs, cuff links and 132 caliber bullet I found what I was really looking for and never really expected to find a signet ring with the initial M on it. And I got the bell I thought fast. If Meletus was out of town everybody who knew his private number would know better than to ring it. If he was checking up on me I had nothing to lose, so... Hello? Oh, Nick. Oh, what a scare you gave me. Listen, I've got all I need. Some dope certificates, the rest of the letters and best of all a signet ring with his initial. How am I doing? Not so good. Meletus just got back. Sora's the devil over a phony wire somebody sent in to decoy him out of town. Only I thought he'd stay overnight, at least. How did you know I was here? Angel Face, did you really think I'd let you go into this alone? I'm downstairs now. I've been watching every minute. Oh, I wish I'd known. I wouldn't have been so scared. You ought to be scared. He left the club five minutes ago. Must be half. Oh, all right, Nick. Look, Angel Face, if you... Someone just came in. Take it easy, baby. Sarge and Colin, I'll be right up. I went out onto the balcony that overlooked the living room. He just didn't please when he saw me. Then the man with him looked up and I... I nearly plunged over the rail. It was ugly face. The masher I had kicked down the flight of stairs. Meletus turned to him. Get up, Barack. Can't you see I have company? Wait a minute. That's her. The dame I was telling you about. Don't be calling my lady friend, Dames. I'm trying to tell you, Mel. Come here, Angel Face. Come on down. Don't be scared. Oh, sure, Mel. I'm afraid of you. At last, huh? Finally, you wanted a change of... Hey, look, boss. Get out, Barack. Get out. Okay, Mel. It's your party. Come here, Angel Face. Now, wait a minute. What for? Well, a girl likes some soft lights and a little sweet music. You know? Okay, I'll go mix us a drink. We are on tiptoe with the drinks. Looking like a cat stalking a bowl of cream. I threw up my first line of defense. I picked up my purse and made like making up my face. Well, honey, what's the big idea? I'm just putting on my face. Oh, you don't need it. Leave it there. Oh, I will not. Those are my things. You haven't any right... Hey, hey, hey. What's that? Just things of mine. Some letters. Let me see, though. What else did you leave out of my room? I... I was jealous. Her letters. Sit down. You were plenty jealous. Jealous of the whole United States Treasury. Mel, Mel, open up. Say where you are. What's up, Rocco? I tried to tell you about the game. She's trying to frame you. She's Wheeler's sister. You weren't at the trial. You weren't filled. Shut up about Wheeler. Let's get you so excited. There's cops all around the building. Two detectives coming up. Hey, Rocco, my cheap little... I'll fix you. Even if they get me, I'll fix you. You're wrong, Milt. I took those things because I knew they were coming here. I did it for you. Oh, for me, she's saying... No! I looked up at Miletus. There was blood running down the part of his hair. He dropped down to his knees beside me like he wanted to apologize, but he didn't say anything. Then he fell over on his side and didn't get up anymore. His right hand. The money he always held in his coat pocket was grabbing at the rug. There wasn't any thumb on it. And there'd been two big thumb marks on Ruby's throat. Hey, that wasn't necessary, Nick. You didn't have to kill him. He let go of her when we came in. I know, I shouldn't have, but he had that right hand in his pocket always. I thought he had a gun in there. Anyway, I saved the state some money. You got that stuff, Angel Face? Yeah. It's over there in my purse. Good. Nick, Ruby Rose was throttled by a man with big hands. Two big thumb marks on her neck. Look at Miletus. No right thumb. Yeah, that's bad, Angel Face. I... Nick. What? This ring here. Isn't this your fraternity ring? Don't move, Nick. Yeah. Yeah, I guess it is. Do we have to mention all this, Coley? Yeah, Nick. I think we'd better. So that's about it, Captain. Uh-huh. And as you know, sir, Nick met Ruby Rose while he was doing undercover work on Miletus. Yeah, but I didn't know it'd gone on seeing her after he left the assignment. I guess nobody did, except me. Yes, that's... And Sergeant Coley clinched the whole thing with that ring. Well, Miss Wheeler, the ring clinched the case all right, but not against Miletus. And M upside down, see, is a W. But an M sideways is a Greek letter. And Nick planted it in Miletus' apartment for me to find, huh? It was Nick's fraternity ring. Yeah, that's right. He was probably afraid you were digging too deep to find the real killer, so he killed Miletus to make you drop the case. Well, Miss Wheeler, this isn't exactly good news, but thank you for filling in some of the blanks. Oh, Captain. Yeah? When will Chick be free? It takes a little time, but he'll be home. I guess he learned about women the hard way, huh? Oh, he hasn't learned anything yet. That kid brother of mine. Just wait till I get him home. Suspense. Hello, the expert will clocks the bright. Never will desert the cause. The cause of auto light. Because folks, auto light makes more than 400 products for cars, trucks, planes, and boats in 28 plants coast to coast. These include complete electrical systems used as original equipment on money makes of America's finest cars. Generators, coils, voltage regulators, wiring cables, starting motors, electric windshield wipers, all engineer to fit together perfectly, work together perfectly because they're a perfect team. So friends, if your auto light equipped car needs replacement parts, ask for and insist on auto light, original factory parts, at your neighborhood service station, car dealer, garage, or repair shop. Remember, you're always right with auto light. Next Thursday for suspense, our star will be Dennis O'Keefe. The play is called Very Much Like a Nightmare, and it is, as we say, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. Tonight's suspense play was produced and edited by William Spear and directed by Norman McDonnell. Music for suspense is composed by Lucian Morrowack and conducted by Lud Bluskin. Angel Face is an original play written for radio by Cornell Woolrich. Claire Trevor may currently be seen co-starred with Fred McMurray in Borderline. In the coming weeks you will hear such stars as Charles Boyer, Edward G. Robinson, and Jack Carson. Don't forget, next Thursday same time, auto light will present suspense, starring Dennis O'Keefe. Famous auto light resistor or regular spark plugs, auto light staple batteries, auto light electrical parts, at your neighborhood auto light dealer. Switch to auto light. Good night. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.