 Inner Sanctum Mysteries. Good evening, friends of the creaking door. This is your host to welcome you once again into the Inner Sanctum. Come in. Don't hesitate. Come right in. Once you get accustomed to our surroundings, you'll never leave. Nobody ever does. Once you're in, you're out. This is the kind of place that grips you. The kind of place where the bars hold, and no holds a barred. Ever wish you were somebody else, somewhere else? Well, hang on to your wishbones. We've got a horrible example of what we mean. We're in the biggest little city in the world, Reno. A fellow with a growth of beard, trousers that balloon at the knees, and a dragging walk. And there's a store whose sign reads, The Rialto Record Shop. Make a record of your own voice. Are we calling him your voice? Yeah. How much can I get on a record? There's a special long playing record. How long? Almost 20 minutes. That's it. Where do I go? This move. This button starts the recording. You speak into the microphone. I got it. Scram. To the chief of police. Greetings. This is Happy Dolan, age 26. Citizen at large, USA. Occupation drifter. I rode into your merry little berg on the wrong end of a locomotive. That was yesterday. I came here to change my luck. And I did. My luck was bad. I changed it to terrible. I almost got knocked off twice for nothing. And I got a complaint. The weighing machine at the Stork drugstore ought to be declared out of bounds because that's where crazy things began happening to me. I put my last copper penny in the machine just to see what not eating did to the human figure. Besides my weight, the machine stamped out a card for my penny. Those little white cards with your fortune on it. The card read danger, fortune and marriage await you. Danger, fortune and marriage. The machine had me confused with somebody else. The only thing that ever happened to me was being born. I hit the sidewalks to mooch the price of a flop. I was getting on till midnight and I had to pitch fast if I didn't want to camp outdoors. I started my pitch at a little guy with a pull-down hat and his hands tucked in his pockets. Pardon me, friend, but I'm a stranger. I skipped this spiel. I know it backwards. Sure. What are you bucking for? A flop. Follow me. What's up? You said you wanted a flop. You coming? Look, if you just spot me for a bit, I know a place. You're not going to get stubborn, I said. Follow me. Do I have to? I can't see a question. Gun. You a cop. Now you're getting in sully. Start walking or you'll flop right where you stand. The town sure had to welcome that out. A little guy with a cannon was parading me through the country-fied back streets toward a river. Turn up that road. I look, friend. Turn up. Okay. Just far enough. It's kind of deep at this end. Did you swim? No. It's too bad. Maybe you should have learned how. Turn around. You're going to shoot me? I won't have to. I'll just treat you to a bath and a flop. Why? Why do I rate it? I'm kind of strangest. Here you go into dreamland. What's going on for the third time? When I heard an angel's voice. Mr. I can't come to be. All right, I'll help you. There. Come out of the bank. You sit bending forward. You swallowed a lot of water. A whole river. We sat on the bank. Me and my guardian angel. So I came around. You saved my life. Thanks. You're welcome. I'm happy to have you. Yes, sir. It's a funny time of night to be out rowing. Lucky for you. Sure. If you just happen to be out rowing. Maybe. What's funny? I won you in a weighing machine. You say a weighing machine? Yes. Over at the store's drugstore. I got my weight in this card. You want to hear my fortune? Go ahead and read it to me. Cast your troubles on the waters if you want to see your future. To your my future. Happy Dolan. A stumble bum who gets plugged and tossed into the river. Call me back in, why don't you? Well, you sound like you're fully recovered. So long. Hey, wait. Jesse, wait. She was gone. I had something more to think about. I hit back toward the lighted up sections of town and ran into a brain teaser number three. Number three commenced with a wallet. A fat cushy wallet lying in the middle of the street begging for a taker. I grabbed the wallet and started to leave fast. But not fast enough. Out of my way, mister. This might persuade you. What's the gun for? To reclaim my property of wallet. I was knocked down and robbed a few minutes ago. Not by me, mister. I didn't see my ass sailing. Have any objection of being searched? What for? To establish your innocence? Turn your pockets inside out. Look, mister O2, I've got your wallet. But I found it on the street. Honestly, I did. Here, I'll give it back. Where were you taking yourself in such a hurry? Places. Square meal first, and a room and a bath, and maybe to the casino. To try your luck? Yeah. I figured to see if a weighing machine I'd been trying to find. Did you say a weighing machine? Yeah. Don't tell me you got one of those little white cards at the store, drugstore too? What I did? Card with a prophecy of fortune. I have it right here. I'll read it to you. Any investment you make will be wonderfully successful. What are you lying me for? Any investment I make, it said. Hardly enough, investments are my business. Loans and investments of every kind. Any investment. You were on your way to luck, you said? That was when I had the wallet. I'll invest in you. I'll stake you. Just like that? No. For half of your future in riding. Is it at the point of a gun, or do I have a choice? No. Give me a town where things happen fast. No. Give me a town where things happen fast. And less than an hour later, I was at the Grove Casino Club. I had two grand in my pocket, and a guy named O'Toole had a signed claim check on half my future. Win, lose, or draw. Give me a town where you make the same doll every which way you turn. There was Jesse dressed to kill lapping up the nightlife, heading my way like a homing pigeon. Hello, Happy. Hello, yourself. The management here is awfully hard on Panhand. You drift over just to needle me. No, I came over because... Because what? Because it seemed the most natural thing to do. Falling in beside you. As if we go together, huh? Do we go together? Sure. Sure we do. You see this bankroll? Happy, where'd you get it? Legitimately, I sold 50% of me for two grand. You're talking crazy. Baby, what are you going to do with the money? Well, that little white card said danger, fortune, marriage. I've had the danger. Now I'm here to let my doll ride on fortune. And if I click there... And if you click there... Then marriage. According to your card, you found your future in the river. Baby, I'm it. I clicked in the casino so I could carry without staggering. The rest I took a check for. Oh, happy, it's all so incredible. Kid, remind me to buy that weighing machine and have it gold-plated. I'll want it on our front lawn as a souvenir. Now what? I cut you in on the half of me I control. Want it? Yes. Yes, happy. Great little town. Nothing ever closes, nobody sleeps who doesn't want to. You can rent a U-drive at car in the spur of the moment, any hour. Even the justice of the peace has his neon sign on until all hours to catch the marrying trade that won't wait until the sun comes up. And, uh, you happy, Dolan? Take this woman to be a roughly-witted wife. Cut it short, I do. And I'll pronounce you man and wife. That'll be $20. There you are. Let's go, Mrs. Dolan. I, uh, I got a room reserve at the Stanford Hotel. Remember what you say we drive right to it? Hit the sack, huh? Yes, happy. I'll drive. Place is all yours. Hey, where'd I get in? You're not getting in. What gifts? Just stand exactly where you are. Wait a minute. And the next one won't go over your head. What if you tell me what it's all about? Some other time. For now, suppose we say the bride changed her mind. So long, husband. Jesse! Jesse! Now, that's what I call hospitality to strangers. Ask a guy for four bits, and he gives you a whole river. You know, Dolan's getting more action in less time than a census-taker and a hornet's nest. Danger, fortune, marriage. The night isn't half-finished yet. Nor is Dolan. Now, let's cut the rest of that record with him. Shall we? I hiked back to town to look for Jesse, the bride who changed her mind. I hid every joint that was still it all. I checked hotel registers, couldn't find hide or hair of her. And then, on a back street winding toward the river... Hello, happy. A tool. Don't you ever sleep? I've got to watch my investments. We're in partnership. Where? I'm buying your half back right now. You made a killing tonight. Yeah, and this check endorsed over to you adds up to an even half. Check seems an order. I'll keep it. Now, give me back that paper I signed and let's say goodbye for keeps. But you're forgetting something, happy. What? I bought half of your future. Your whole future, not just the proceeds of one night's good fortune. Either you're crazy or you're a fox. What give? What have you really got up your sleeve? A mechanical object. What's there about me that brings out the gun in people? Will you take a partner's advice, happy? You're not asking, you're telling. You lived town at once. As a train out at 6 a.m., you'll go to Chicago to the address on this card. 1275 Rutgers Drive. What'll I do at 1275 Rutgers Drive, Chicago? You'll be out of danger there. My investment then you will be secure. Why? Am I in danger here? Aren't you? You're just ducking a tool's gun. The train was half mile out, I went to the rear platform. One pull on the emergency cord and the train would make an unscheduled stop just for happy Dolan. Get away from that emergency cord, Dolan. Yeah, hello. I didn't get your name last night. Smith. Why do you keep telling me? For exercise. You're a hard man to kill. Why did you give up? You had two tries. One more try. You're... You're gonna kill me out here? When the train goes through a tunnel. Why are you out to kill me? I told you for the exercise. I'll freeze, will you? You make a move and I won't wait for a tunnel. Why should I freeze? What's the percentage? What if I get it in an hour and two minutes? Okay, that's how you want it. That's how I want it. Benny, Smith, I'm hard to kill. You were wrestling for a gun, rocking on our heels while it's raining. You were going to take a turn around the bed and then suddenly we were mid-air over the railing for a cannonball falling to the ground. Came two on the tracks, six feet from an unconscious little guy who called himself Smith. He couldn't feel my back or legs. I was bleeding badly. Smith looked twice as bad as I felt. I watched his hand feel around blindly for the gun laying a foot away. He was half-dead but still concentrating on business. I started crawling. I got to the gun first. I'm in charge now, Smith. You're not me, are you? You don't answer some questions fast. What questions? Why have you been trying to kill me? What's behind it? That's a lot of questions. I got two more. Who's Simon O'Toole? And why did a blonde named Jesse marry me and then take a powder? You'll figure out I've got the answers. I know all three of you got the answers. You clam up and you're a dead man, Smith. And I'm a dead man. You're not gonna talk? I stood over a lot of guys in my time, like you're standing over me now. Not one of them opened up ever. Go ahead and shoot. I've got to kill you, Smith. It's either you or me. You've got the gun. Yeah. I've got... I killed a killer. I kept telling myself it was self-defense that I'd exterminated a rat that somebody should pin a badge on me for doing it. With an hour before I could bring myself to drag Smith into the woods, I left him under a clump of blueberry bushes and headed back for town to find the hard throb I'd married. I found her in the last place I expected her to be. Right in my room at the standbrook, curled up on a sofa like someone catnapping. Jesse. Jesse. I couldn't save my breath. I'd be a widow or longer than I'd been a bridegroom. Jesse was stoned dead. I bet you've been traveling in the wrong direction, happy? I too. How did you get in here? I came to persuade the young lady to win all our marriage to you. Quit out of buying. You killed her. No. I might have. She'd remain stubborn. Someone reached her first. Smith? Uh-huh. Why did Smith kill her? Isn't that the usual fate of double crosses? She recovered you from the river after he'd thrown you in. There were potants until the young lady foolishly decided to operate on her own. What were they after with me? I suppose the time has come to talk of things. You're a missing heir. I'm a missing heir? Me? Well, did my old man leave me as worn-out suspenders? No. But an uncle Jonas of 1275, Rutgers Drive, Chicago, left you a quarter of a million dollar a state. My uncle Jonas? I hardly remember him. You will when they read the will tomorrow. You've been advertising everywhere, publishing your picture for months before his death. Only I never saw an ad. You don't read the papers. You just sleep under them on park benches. What was Smith's angle? Smith is Michael Dolan, a distant relative of yours and an aspiring heir who wanted desperately to succeed you. That is over your dead body. The girl's angle was obvious. Yeah. Marry me, let Smith knock me off and be my legal widow. Yes. And my angle explains itself. You cut in for half. And those weighing machine cards were just a way of getting me to play soccer. Yes. The hotel management ringing happy. They're curious about CD overnight guests who check in without baggage. They'll be barging in shortly drawing conclusions about a drifter who murdered his new bride. You threatening me with a wrap? Ask yourself. How much credibility will you have with the authorities? Better get back to that railroad station as fast as you can for me to Chicago. You still see me as an investment, huh? A guilt-edged one now. Now that I can be framed for murdering Jesse. Uncharged with the actual murder of Michael Dolan. Alias Smith. How could you know about that? I saw Smith get on that train with you. You can only be here alive over Smith's dead body. Get going while you can. What about the corpse on the sofa? Leave the disposal of your bride to me. I've had experience in similar matters. I got going. As far as this booth here in the Rialto record shop. It's all here on the record and thanks for a lovely time, everybody. You've a great little town here, all right. Hey, you. You completed your recording? Yeah. Why don't you do me a little favor? Yes. Wrap it up and mail it to the chief of police with my compliments. Wouldn't it be better, sir, if we delivered it personally? We? You'd hate to be compelled to shoot a customer. A gun? This is where I came in. You listened all the time I was making that record. Well, I'm in the cooler now. Both tools and the cell right next door to me. I've been here a day and a half. Mr. Dolan. Big deal for you, huh? Catching a killer? But it's good for the record business. But you're not exactly a killer. Maybe you can prove to the DA that shooting that man Smith was justifiable homicide. Justifiable, huh? Smith's not going to like that wherever he is. Nor is he going to like another thing wherever he is. What other thing is he not going to like? His inability to claim your uncle Jonas's fortune. You see, the will was read this morning, and you were left your uncle's library in a 1928 Nash automobile. The rest of the estate went to... Don't tell me. Yes. It went to your cousin, the late Mr. Smith. And now with his death, his share reverts to Charity. Charity. The late Mr. Smith wherever he is is going to tie all over again of enlargement of the heart. Looks like Smith was his own worst enemy. He kept us in the wrong cousin. They tell me that when Happy Dolan turned loose in that 1928 Nash automobile, Uncle Jonas left him, there's one certain town he's going to cross right off his road map. They're going to rugged there. Too much happens in record time. Well friends, it's time once again to close that creaking door. Until next week at the same time when we'll be back with a little hunk of horror. You'll be sure to listen, won't you? Until next week then. Good night. Pleasant dreams. Inner Sanctum has come to you through the worldwide facilities of the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.