 Yes, Roma Wines taste better because only Roma selects from the world's greatest wine reserves for your pleasure. And now, Roma Wines, R-O-M-A. Roma Wines, present. Suspense! Tonight, Roma Wines bring you Mark Stevens in Tree of Life, a suspense play produced, edited, and directed for Roma Wines by William Spear. Suspense! Radio's outstanding theatre of thrills is presented for your enjoyment by Roma Wines. That's R-O-M-A. Roma Wines, those better tasting California wines, enjoyed by more Americans than any other wine, for friendly entertaining, for delightful dining. Yes, right now, a glass full would be very pleasant, as Roma Wines bring you Mark Stevens in a remarkable tale of Suspense! Everything went wrong. From the very beginning, everything that possibly could went wrong. Because, you see, I had already planned, planned for quite a while to kill my wife. The first thing was the doors, and that's funny too, because that was the thing that impressed me the most about the new place, the doors. The house was a double bungalow, twin apartments, really. White stucco with two doors in the front setter. The doors were exactly alike, made of modern yellow wood, studded with nails. The nails spread out in a tree of life pattern. Tree of life. I can still see Helen standing with her slim elegance figures silhouetted against the door, and her hair blending with its warm color, and her blue eyes burning with that strange, acquisitive fire I had once mistaken for passion. Isn't it a beautiful door, Jimmy? I really think I'm clever to have found it. Don't you know it's definitely the smartest place we've ever had. Well, don't just stand there, darling. Come on, come on. You possibly love the inside. You see, see, Jimmy, the entrance hall and the living room can be thrown into one. Jimmy, we can have some stunning parties. That room to the back? Uh-huh. Three rooms, small dressing room, two baths. Of course we'll have to buy some new furniture to go to the house. Most of our old pieces simply won't belong. Softly dark back here. Oh, nonsense, darling, it's just cloudy today. Besides, you'll love it when you want to sleep late on Sunday. That's why I'm giving you the center room. I've taken the front one with the dressing room. The corner room with the three windows? Oh, well, that'll be the guest room. Mom and the girls will be coming in every so often, you know. Then you'll want to bring home some of your business associates. I never have. Oh, but don't you see now you can. Jimmy Dawson, I'm not going to let you be an old stick in the mud anymore. We're going to have a wonderful winter, darling. There's a young couple in the other part. The name is Roxborough. I think that's what the agent said. Anyway, I saw her from a distance. She seemed to be a perfectly stunning brunette, just our sort. I imagine four of us will do lots of things together. Oh, darling, admit it. The house is priceless, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, of course, Helen. But isn't there a small room somewhere where I might do some painting? Well, yes. We've discussed this before. It's not healthy for you to bring your work home with you. Besides, it's much too lovely a house to mess up. Oh, I don't mean advertising there, Helen. I want to try some real work, well, creative work. I've told you what I think about it, Jimmy. I want to make your home your castle, darling. I want it to be a place for you to relax away from work. We must concentrate now on gracious living. Of course, it's your home, if you feel you must. No, no, no, Helen, skip it. Of course, darling, from now on it's gracious living. Remember? Sure, gracious living. I'd already begun to make some plans for Helen, for killing Helen, that is, when we moved into the new house two weeks later. I rode the interurban to work that day and left the car with Helen. She said she needed it to move some of our smaller, more breakable treasures. I offered to stay and help her with the moving, but Helen said I'd be in the way. I ate dinner in town and rode the interurban back, walked the seven blocks to my new home. I hated it more with each step I took. When I got there, the shades were down. The lights were out on both sides, which meant Helen was out again. I stood outside for a while, not wanting to go in. Finally I started up the steps, but the doors made me pause. I suddenly realized I didn't know which was my door. It felt like a fool. Suppose I were to go barging in on the Rocksboroes, or whatever the name was, certainly they'd think I was a fool. All I could do was choose one of the doors. I was just fumbling at the lock with my key, but when the door opened from the inside, I couldn't see the man who opened it very well, but I could see the gun he held in his hand. It was the biggest gun I've ever seen in my life. Come in. Why I... Come in. After he closed the door, the man with the gun switched on the lights. Then I saw the other one. He was big with a lot of black hair and an angry face. He had a gun too. Kept fooling with it, spinning the cylinder. He was standing in front of the couch trying to hide something. Something lying there covered with an overcoat. But I knew what it was. I saw the hand trailing down on the floor. A woman's hand. And just two of you? I... You heard him? Who are you? Is that my wife? So you're Rocksboro, huh? You're supposed to be halfway to Chicago by now. Rocksboro? Well, well. Cute, ain't he? Curly hair and everything. Real cute. Look, I... I made a mistake. You see that... What do you know about that? He thinks he made a mistake, Rico. What kind of mistake you think you made, Curly? What kind of a mistake? You fix this thing all up with our boss the day to time the alibi, the works, and then you walk in right in the middle of it. Oh, you made a mistake, all right, Curly. The biggest mistake you ever made in your life. Maybe the last two, huh, Rico? Maybe the last. Who knows? For a minute, they both just stood and looked at me. Oh, I've made a mistake, all right. Here I'd gone and stumbled in on the job being done by a couple of hired killers, the job of killing his wife for Rocksboro, my neighbor Rocksboro. And they thought I was Rocksboro. Even that wasn't the worst. As long as they thought I was Rocksboro, though I might be able to make a deal. But if they ever found out I wasn't Rocksboro, the end of the line, I had to be Rocksboro. Any last words, Curly? Oh, wait a minute. Honest, I made a mistake. You said that. We don't like those kind of mistakes in our business. You can see how that would be, can't you? But listen, if it wasn't a mistake, why else would I come home right when... Oh, you can say it, it don't matter now. Right when we're knocking off your wife, huh, Curly? I bet you I know. I bet she likes to play hero, huh, Rico? Hero? Sure, you come home, you'll find burglars. That's us. And we just knocked off your wife so you knock us off. You're a hero. Get it? You ought to be in Hollywood, bud, where they pay for that stuff. Well, you better tell Curly that I ain't making it up. Because a poor guy tried that on us once, Curly. Poor guy. But I couldn't have meant anything like that. I don't need to have a gun. I haven't even got a jackknife. Listen, we can make some kind of a deal. There's a rod in the desk, maybe you'll figure out I'm using that. Hey, wait a minute, Rico, wait a minute. Curly here said something about a deal. I don't like deals. The boys don't like deals. I don't like the other way. It's cleaner all around. Turn around, Curly. No, wait a minute. Relax, relax. I just want to frisk it this time. He started going over my pockets, and that was all right. Until he came to my wallet and took it. My wallet, driver's license, social security card, every identification under the sun to prove I wasn't Roxborough, but James Dawson. If he ever looked inside, it was finished. I had to do something to distract his attention. I had to do it right then. Hey, where you going? Oh, I just wanted to look at her. Yeah. Maybe Curly thinks we don't know our jobs, huh, Max? Go ahead. Take a look. Take a good look. Might be somebody you know. I walked over to the couch. I lifted the coat off her face. I looked, and I put the coat back again. I felt sick. I hadn't needed more than that one look to know she was dead. And I knew something else. I knew that my chances of getting out of this alive had just gone down about 90%. Well, satisfied? He looks kind of sick, Max. Maybe he's a sensitive type. You know, these sensitive guys are funny. They don't mind having it done. Oh, no, that don't worry him a bit. But the guy that does it because he needs a few bucks, he's just a big ape, a guy with no feelings. Ain't that right, Curly? I'm not complaining. He's not complaining. Well, that's something anyway, huh, Max? He's not complaining. Oh, that's good. But a minute ago, he was talking about a deal. I like that better. We got work to do. We can talk about deals later. And I still say no deal. Maybe we ought to ask Curly. You want us to finish the job upright, don't you, Curly? Oh, sure. Ask Curly. Finish the job? Sure. Collect the ice. He don't know what that means. Do you, Curly? The jewelry, the silverware, the stuff that makes it look like burglars. Remember? Oh, oh, yeah. Where do you keep it? Why, uh, her bedroom, I guess. Your guess? Oh, these sensitive guys are great guesses, but you better have guessed right, Curly. Come on inside. All right, now, where is it? I think the dressing table. Take a look, Rico. Yeah. Well, well, looky here. He guessed it right on her nose. Oh, Curly, sharp. Sharp he is. And it's some real pretty ice here, too. I bet this was her engagement ring, huh, Curly? You got the stuff. You don't have to talk about it. Oh, you've got the wrong attitude, Curly. You knew this was part of the deal? We'd get part of our cut out of this stuff, see? Hey, I'll tell you what I did with that sapphire, Max. What sapphire? The Allison job, the place you got the garnets. Oh, yeah, yeah. I had it made into a pin for my kid. I gave it to her for graduation. She was crazy about it. Your kid? Sure. I got a couple of swell kids, boy and a girl. Smart, too. Maybe that's the trouble with these sensitive guys. Henry, go, no kids. I wanted four. A sheet, isn't that? Well, that's the way it goes sometimes. I bet she'd have figured it a little different if she'd have known how it was going to turn out for her. Huh, Curly? Yeah. Yeah, maybe she would. All right, now listen, we got work to do the rest of the house. Now, about that deal... Never mind that deal. What are we going to do with him while we're working? I'd leave him in here. You wouldn't try to holler or anything like that, would you, Curly? No, I won't. There you see, I told you, he's sharp, sharp. He's going to think over the deal while we're gone. I tell you, I don't like him. How do you know you haven't heard it? Well, listen, Curly, there's two ways. The first is Rico's way, quick and clean. You know what I mean? Yeah, I know. The other way, you pay us five grand. But I haven't got $5,000. With a setup like this, with the business you've got, you can raise it and you're better, too. I still like my way better. You see what I mean, Curly? I think it over. Come on, Rico. Well, maybe I better stay here and watch him. If you watch him, who's going to watch me? I see what you mean. And don't try nothing funny, Curly. Because I still like my way better. I like my way better. He knew he wasn't kidding, so did I. It already killed once tonight. There was already one dead body in that house. There could be just as easy be another. There could be me. For Suspense, Roma Wines are bringing you Mark Stevens in Tree of Life. Roma Wines' presentation tonight in Radio's Outstanding Theatre of Thrills. Suspense. Between the acts of suspense, this is Ken Niles for Roma Wines. Here's an easy way to return the compliment of the friendly hospitality you've enjoyed over the holidays. Simply invite your holiday hosts to an open house and delight them with Roma California wines. As you're sure to please every guest with better tasting Roma sherry, port or muscatel, because more Americans enjoy Roma than any other wine. The reason? Roma Wines taste better, because Roma starts with choicest grapes, because Roma vintner skill and America's finest winemaking resources guide this grape treasure unhurriedly to tempting taste perfection. Because Roma selects at peak taste richness from the world's greatest wine reserves for your pleasure. No wonder Roma Wines are America's favorites. So for smart, gracious hospitality at your thank you party, be sure to serve Roma R-O-M-A. Roma Wines by America's greatest vintner. And now Roma Wines bring back to a Hollywood soundstage Mark Stevens in Tree of Life. A tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. So there I sat waiting, locked in the bedroom by a couple of hired killers while I ransacked the house for loot, all because I had just moved into a two-family house with two front doors that had that Tree of Life design on each one, exactly alike. All because these gunmen thought I was my neighbor Roxborough who had hired them to kill his wife. Well, they'd done their best, all right. There was the dead body on the couch in the front room right now. That was why I had to make a deal somehow. A dead body. And more than that, I did manage to put it over. I had to have money to get away, because I knew I had to go away, far away for a long time. They had my wallet. There was just the off chance there might be some in the room here somewhere. She must have had money. I started going over the room with a fine tooth comb, the closet, inside of shoes, hat boxes, under the mattress, any place in every place that a woman might be liable to hide money. In the bottom bureau drawer, I found a leather pocketbook. It had two affectionate notes from some guy named Steve, and that was all I gave up. I went back to sit down in front of the dressing table again. I knocked something on the floor. There was a potter box, one of those musical things that keeps playing some gimmick tune over and over until they run down. There was powder and little heaps spilled on the floor. There was something else. Buried in all that powder is what I'd been looking for. A roll of bills. Nearly $400. I just had about time to put this stuff in my pocket when I heard the two gunmen galloping down the hall. Where did we get all of that? Hold it, Riko. All right, what's the idea? Just a little nervous, I guess. I knocked that thing on the floor, see? Well, put it back together again. Oh, sure. What do you know? He's nervous. What are you nervous about, Curly? My wife's got one of them things, too. Made me get it for her last Christmas. Did it make you nervous, like Curly? Curly ain't nervous about that. You got a way to get that five grand, Curly? I can't get the cash right away. Well, maybe we could take a note, huh, Riko? Huh? Oh, yeah, no. Sure, maybe we could. Curly, you're gonna come out here and write us a nice little note, all right? Now, sit down there at the desk. Make yourself real comfortable. Maybe you better tell him how that note should go. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, maybe I should. Now, Curly, all you gotta do is write us a nice little note telling how you killed your wife. How wife? Killed my wife. He don't think he did kill his wife. But if I did that, you could blackmail me. You could keep blackmailing him. See, I told you he was sharp. You know, this thing has gotta be said right, so one can believe it, right, Curly? Yeah, yeah, that's right. That's right. Now, you're gonna sit right down there and write how you and your wife was always getting in your hair, you know? You was always having fights. And finally, well, you had a real big one tonight and you hit her over the head with a bottle. Only you hit her a little too hard, see? Is that how she... You don't think we use these things unless we have to, do you? Too noisy. We don't want to cause you no trouble, understand, Curly? We just want to be sure you do raise that five grand, see? Yeah, I see, but... Well, if it came to a showdown, how would you explain the note? Very sharp, very sharp. You see what I mean, Rico? Curly wants to know if we turn him in, how do we tell the cops we got the note? Easy. We make a deal with a guy who's got to take a rap for burglary anyway, says he burgled this place too and found the note. We bought it from him. Get it? I get it. Then start writing. For a minute, I sat there thinking. I wasn't too worried about the handwriting. The chances that Roxborough had been full enough to write anything in his own hand that these mugs had ever seemed pretty slim. And it couldn't do me any harm writing a confession in another man's name. So I began to write. And I stopped thinking about Roxborough and his wife. I began thinking about Helen in five wasted years. The opportunities missed. The friends lost. The time gone down the drain. All because of Helen. And what she thought was gracious living. Gracious living. When I got through it, it was a pretty good note. Let me see it. Uh-huh. Okay. It almost sounds like you met her, Curly. I did. Okay. Sign it. Huh? I said sign it. I couldn't sign it. I didn't know Roxborough's first name. They'd know that. But one thing they'd be sure to know, I could have cried. To get this far, freedom almost inciting them to have it end this way. I just sat there holding the pen. What's the matter? Oh, Pete, I... Yeah, yeah, maybe. Come on, sign it. Well, I... I'm not K Roxborough, like that little printed note you sent the boss. The full name. Not K Roxborough, the full name. What's the K for, Curly? Kenneth? No. No, it's Kendall. Is that all? No, that's not all. Oh, no, the $5,000. That's the idea. That's my sharp boy, the $5,000. Well, I... I don't want to lay my hands on that much cash tonight. Well, cash was sort of what we had in mind, Curly. I could write you checks. No checks. Hey, wait a minute. Wait a minute. I think he's got something there. Yeah, he could date it ahead. He could say he gave it to his wife for a mink coat or something, and it was stolen by the nasty burglars. You could think up something, couldn't you, Curly? You're better. Why can't we get the cash from him tomorrow? Because Curly's got to be in Chicago tonight for sure. If the cops nab him for this job, what good is that little note he just wrote us, huh? Oh, yeah. Okay, Curly, write a check. Sure. Sure. Two word cash. Yeah. $5,000. Kendall. Foxboro. Okay. Now we're going to do you a favor, Curly. We're going to take you down and put you on that next train to Chicago. If we don't, we won't take a powder and never come back. And leave this nice business of his? Oh, Curly wouldn't do that, would you, Curly? No. Don't, of course not. Okay, then let's go. I don't like sticking around here with that. Ah, she can't hurt you. She can't hurt nobody, even Curly, if he's smart. They run around wiping off fingerprints. Even mine. They were very good about that. They snapped off the lights, opened the door, snapped that behind them, too. Now you said you were. I heard their voices first, and I saw them. Lillian and Harvey Reynolds. I tried to step back out of the streetlight, but the two gunmen pushed me forward. I just kept my head down and prayed. Come on, let's go home. I want to know who I bumped into. You know, it's awfully dark, but he looks like Jimmy. Hey, are you Jimmy? No. You see, Lell, come on, let's go home. I think he's Jimmy. Who are your friends, Jimmy? They're not Jimmy. They're not my friends. Must be relative. Oh, come on, Lill, let's go home. Hi, Jimmy. Where is Jimmy? I don't know. I'm Jimmy. I beg your pardon, madam. I think I know where he is. What? Where is he? Where's Jimmy? You're just a little mixed up. Now if you go five blocks up the street, then four blocks over, it's the big yellow house on the corner. Come on, Harvey. I told you he's fine, Lillian. Talk about it a little. I want to go home. I sure feel sorry for Jimmy if she finds him. So do I. We drove down the station. Counted the next train for Chicago's in about 45 minutes. One of them went in with me while I got my ticket. And we just stood out there in the darkness on the platform and waited. When the train finally pulled in, they walked me down to my car and stood there with me in the vestibule until the train was ready to pull out. Take it easy now, Curly. And about that check, yeah. That better be good. Yeah, because if it ain't, we'll be waiting for you when you come back. What did I care where they'd be? I was free. I was going to Chicago all right. But from there I was going to catch a train to Detroit. From there I was going to cross Canadian border. I was never coming back because I'd made it. I was free, free. I got in to Chicago all right. I got in the train to Detroit last night. I was walking through the observation car not paying much attention to anything except a look for a seat when somebody slapped me on the shoulder. Well, well, well, if it isn't Dawson. Huh? Yes, maybe you don't know me, Mr. Dawson. I know you, at least by sight. I'm your next-door neighbor, Kent Roxborough. Kent Roxborough? Well, well, small world these days, isn't it? I suppose you're out this way on business like me, huh? I stayed over in Chicago last night. Got a good room for a change, too. Then I thought I might just as well clear up a couple little things out in Detroit. Listen, Roxborough, I got to talk to you. Of course, old man. Come on, let's find a seat. No, no, no, not here. What's the matter, old boy? Trouble? Listen, I ran into those men last night by mistake. Those men you sent to see your wife. What? What in the world are you talking about? I never said anything. Okay, it's all right. I understand why you did it. I was thinking of doing the same thing myself, but I walked in on them by mistake. They told me all about it. They thought I was you. Let's you and me take a little stroll out under the observation platform, Dawson. Yeah, yeah, sure. No, what's all this, Dawson? I tell you, it was a mistake. The doors, they're exactly alike. Yeah, I remember. I walked in. They thought I was you. They'd already done it. They thought I'd come back to double crosses. So they made me sign a confession that I'd done it in your name. Confession? Oh, it's all right. It's in my handwriting, not yours. I even got your first name wrong. I had to write them a check, too. $5,000. They'd say they've done it. You know about it. Yeah, I saw her. So I'm going away, Canada. I'm never coming back. Yeah. You're going away all right, Dawson. No. No, don't shoot. There's something else. They didn't... They didn't... They found me beside the tracks this morning. They say I may live until tonight, maybe even a little longer. I guess I can't blame him. The cops picked him up. He'll get his. So will those two hired killers. I guess he thought he had to do it once he knew that I knew. I guess I can't blame anyone but myself. I guess it's what you call retribution, because I had planned to kill my wife. I'd have done it, too, I guess. But one he didn't give me time to tell him was that it wasn't me that got the wrong door. It was the gunman. It wasn't me that got into his house. It was the gunman that got into mine. It wasn't his wife. They killed. It was mine. Gracious living. Helen had always talked about it. Now gracious dying. I guess that's what you'd call it. Retribution. Suspense. Presented by Roma Wines, R-O-M-A. Roma America's favorite wine. And now this is Ken Niles making a curtain call with a star of tonight's suspense play, Mark Stevens. Mark, I'm sure that Mr. Webster gave the world the word suspense just to describe a dramatic performance such as you've given us here tonight. Oh, thank you very much, Ken. It was a wonderful plot. I've noticed that you make it a custom here on suspense to provide your guests with the most wonderfully dramatic roles. And there's another suspense custom I'm sure you'll enjoy. Each week we present our star with a gift basket of Roma Wines. This is yours, Mark, with the compliments of Roma America's greatest vendor. Oh, and a pleasant customer it is too. Well, pleasantest of all is the enjoyment you share with friends when you serve the delicious Roma California Port in your basket. For Roma Port adds warmth to any welcome. Roma Port is the favorite of millions for evening entertaining. And Roma Port is so easy to serve. All you do is pour and hospitality reign. Oh, it sounds like Roma Port is a host's best friend. Indeed it is, Mark. And Roma Port tastes so good. In fact, all Roma Wines are famous for better taste. And here's the reason. Roma Vintners with ancient skill and America's finest winemaking resources guide the rich treasure of choicest grapes to tempting taste perfection. Then at peak taste richness, Roma selects from the world's greatest reserves of fine wines for your pleasure. No wonder more Americans enjoy Roma than any other wine. Well, the popularity of Roma wine speaks for itself, Ken. And thank you very much and good night. Tonight's suspense play was written by J. Douglas Ware. Mark Stevens will soon be seen in the 20th Century Fox Technicolor production. I wonder who's kissing her now. Next Thursday, same time, you will hear Mr. Dan Durier as star of Suspense. Produced and directed by William Spear for the Roma Wine Company of Fresno, California. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.