 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 Mr. Van Heflin in Three Blind Mice, 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 glassful would be very pleasant, as Roma wines bring you Van Heflin in a remarkable tale of... Suspense! Lockwood Bentley and Waltz Publishing. It still set it on the big brass nameplate. Going down! Oh, good evening, Mr. Lockwood. Good evening. Sure, the elevator operators were nice to me. Most of the office boys remember to knock on my door before they came in, and even some of the stenographer still spoke to me. But everybody else above the rank of junior story reader knew it was just a question of time before that big brass nameplate in the lobby came down and another one went up in its place, Bentley and Waltz Publishing. No more Lockwood. If ever a man hated his partners, I did. Main force, sir. I went out of the building and across the street to the Savoy Fadena. Even the head waiter must have heard the rumor. He gave me the dime-sized table over in the corner that's generally reserved for out-of-town ribbon clerks. That's all right, Bob. It'll be another day. I'd gotten to coffee and dessert when I saw Helen Conover. Well, that just about summed it up. There were two things that I wanted in this world to get my hands back on that corporation and Helen Conover. When she saw me and I waved to her and she waved back and started over to my table. She was head of our promotion department. She was smart and ambitious, and she could have personally modeled for any pin-up art that you ever saw, but she was reserving anything along that line for my partner, Dick Walsh. Okay, sister. It'll be another day. Hello, Arthur. Dining alone? Yes, it's a habit, but I could break it under the right conditions. Oh, but you're all finished. That's all right. I'm just a big book publisher. I've got nothing to do. Well, if it's not against office regulations to have dinner with the boss. Regulations? Well, they never bothered you now, did they? Now, Arthur, let's keep this clean. That's my dimus to order. Yes, the steak dinner, please. No soup and no potatoes. Very good, madam. Working kind of late, aren't you? Not working. Dick wanted me to see him off on the train. Where's he going? Chicago. What for? Business, I suppose. Didn't he tell you? You know, they never tell me anything anymore. Well, it wasn't anything very important, I guess. Well, I'd know even less if it had been. Maybe you can tell me about Sam. About Sam? Did he get his report from the doctor? Oh, yes. He did, as a matter of fact. How was he? I'm afraid it's pretty bad. How bad? Well, it's his heart all right. They don't give him much more time. Uh-huh. Six months at the most. Well, that means they'll have to work fast, or I will. What? Wouldn't you say so? Arthur, I don't understand you. I've just told you that one of your partners has only six months to live, and you don't even seem to care. Now, look, let's be grown up about it, at least. Sam Bentley and Dick Walsh have been trying to ease me out of the firm for the last year. Now Sam's gonna kick off. Why should I care? You really hate him, don't you? Me? I don't hate anybody. I just hope he kicks off tonight instead of waiting six months, and Dick Walsh's train runs into the Hudson River. That's all. I don't hate anybody. I just wish they were dead. Oh, Arthur, how can you? What's the matter with that? I wish my partners were out of the way, and you wish... Well, I know what you wish too only. I'm honest about it, and you're not. This isn't a very pleasant conversation. There's always a better one. For instance, what are you doing tonight? I'm going home and get a good night's sleep for a change. Oh, by the way, how long is Dick gonna be away? About a week. You'll be kind of lonely, won't you? I don't see why I should. Well, that's what I was thinking. You know, I've always had a sort of a yen for you, Helen. Why, Mr. Lockwood? Why don't people tell me these things? People don't have to tell people like you those things. Now that you mention it, I do seem to have noticed a sort of a leer ever so often. Well, that wasn't any leer, baby. That was the real McCoy. Look, Arthur, this may sound kind of corny, but I'm in love with Dick, and he's in love with me. It does. What? Sound corny. Why doesn't he marry you? You know why. Sure, that wife that won't divorce him. You know, he's been using that one for the last 10 years. Please, Arthur, I'd rather not talk about it. Okay, okay, not to change the subject, but what do you expect to get out of it? Get out of what? The reorganization, the big day when they kick old Arthur out of the firm. You think maybe they'll make you a vice president? I really don't know what you're talking about, Arthur. Well, you ought to think about it. Because you can never tell, I might be able to make you an even better proposition. I'm afraid I'm not interested in your propositions, Arthur. Any of them. Okay, baby. It'll be another day. It was mostly bluff, and she knew it, but there was one thing that she didn't know. There was a chance that my smart partners had actually been holding out on me. And if they had, the way our incorporation papers were drawn, then I could really nail them. Well, I'd been snooping through the files at night lately, and I'd already dug up a couple of things. This night, I went back at it again. I let myself in through the side door of the building and walked up the two flights to the office. Everything was dark and deserted. Barely make out the long lines of desks. And then I saw the light under Sam's door. And I crossed the office very quietly and listened. Hmm, nothing. I tapped on the door. Still nothing. So I opened it. And there was Sam. There was Sam, leaning back in his chair and staring at me with those cold and slightly protruding blue eyes, much the way he always did. Except, tonight, there was a small hole in the right side of his head. And Sam Bentley was dead. The gun was lying on the carpet where it had fallen out of his hand. It was his, all right. I recognized it. His other hand had fallen against an open drawer of the desk and his wristwatch was broken. It had stopped at five after eight. And I picked up the phone to call the police. And then I noticed a letter on his desk. It was addressed to Richard Walsh. Well, I put up the phone and looked at that letter. Then I opened it. Well, it was about what I'd figured, the doctor's report on his heart, the usual, all-round apology, and then a detailed explanation of how Dick Walsh could use the corporate insurance to pay off Sam's family for his share of the business and then take it over himself because Sam didn't want me to have any part of it. The signature was a little scrawly, but it was Sam's all right. So there it was, the double cross. And yet it's funny, but almost before I got through reading it, I knew the answer. I looked at that broken wristwatch of his again. Five after eight, it said. An hour later, I was home in bed sleeping like a baby, knowing that Dick Walsh, too, was going to die. I strolled into the office the next morning about ten just to be on the safe side, but of course they'd already found him. All over the office there were little huddles that broke up fritably of my approach. Well, I played it for what it was worth and headed for the largest and most important huddle, the executive huddle outside of Sam's door. They were all there, including Helen Conover. And she was looking pretty sick. Well, what is all this? Just a minute, who are you? Oh, I'm Arthur Lockwood. What's all this about? Oh, just wait here, please, Mr. Lockwood. What's going on here, anyway? Somebody robbed the till? Arthur, it's Sam. His heart? No, he was shot. Shot? Arthur, the police say it's murder. Will you come in please, Mr. Lockwood? Yes, certainly. I'll see you again, too, please, Miss Conover. Oh, yes, all right. Well, we went in. Sam was still there, but by this time, somebody had thrown a towel over his face. Big, gangling guy came across the room and taught me with his hand out. Mr. Lockwood? Yes? Captain Gibbons' homicide. Is that Sam, Sam Bentley? Yes. No, it must be something of a shock to you, sir, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you a few questions. Oh, yes, of course. Please go right ahead. Anybody who want to kill your partner, Mr. Lockwood? Are you sure it was... I mean, couldn't it have been suicide? Why would he want to kill himself? Well, he's been pretty depressed lately. His health has been bad. Only yesterday he got a report from his doctor that he probably wouldn't live more than six months. No, won't hold, Mr. Lockwood. Not unless you figure that Bentley shot himself and then carried the gun into your other partner's office. That's Mr. Walsh, isn't it? Mr. Walsh? Yes. Was that surprising? Why? Yes, it... Do you mean that you found the gun in Mr. Walsh's office? In the wall safe. How many people have the combination of that safe, Mr. Lockwood? Well, just the three of us, I think, the three partners. We each have a safe, but somebody else has to have the combination, who just in case... Well, you know, if... Did you trust your partners, Mr. Lockwood? Well, Captain, I'll be frank with you, there hasn't been a great deal of love lost between us lately, but yes, we trusted each other in our own way. Where were you at ten after seven, Mr. Lockwood? Oh, I was having dinner at the Savoy, across the street. You can prove that, I suppose? Yes, of course. As a matter of fact, Miss Conover here came over and later joined me. I understand Miss Conover was seeing your other partner, Mr. Walsh, off on the 735, at Chicago. Yes, so she told me yes. You're sure of the train town? Yes, of course. Well, it's the one Dick Walsh always takes to Chicago. Why this interest in time? Have you set the time of the... of when it happened? Bentley's watch was broken. It stopped at ten after seven. Oh. Uh, either of you see this before? Where did that come from? Recognizing? Yes, of course, that's Mr. Walsh's watch charm. He keeps losing it. He loses it all the time. Yes, he does. We found it in the chair behind Bentley's body. Oh, now wait a minute, Captain. You don't seriously mean to suggest that... How does it add up to you? Well, I mean that... that watch charm doesn't mean anything. It's true that he did lose it all the time, but he could have lost it in here any time. Not in a chair, Mr. Lockwood. It wouldn't stay there very long, not without being found. Oh, Captain, there must be some mistake. There must be... Harry, you can go now, Miss Conover. But please... I said you could go now, Miss Conover. Come on in, Helen. I guess that's it, Harry. I guess it is. Better call Chicago and issue a warrant. Richard Leonard Walsh, suspicion of murder. Oh, it's... All right, all right. It's nothing now. She's just fainted. For suspense, Roma Wines are bringing you Van Heflin in three blind mice. Roma Wines' presentation tonight in Radio's Outstanding Theatre of Thrills. Suspense. Between the acts of suspense, this is Ken Niles for Roma Wines. Next time you have friends over in the evening, try this simple, gracious way to add warmth to their welcome. Serve delicious Roma California sherry, port or muscatel. Delightful with cheese, nuts, cake, or any tasty snack. You're sure to please every guest with better tasting Roma Wines. For Roma Wines are favorites from coast to coast, enjoyed by more Americans than any other wine. The reason? Roma Wines taste better because Roma starts with choicest grapes. Because Roma with patient skill and America's finest winemaking resources guides these naturally finer grapes unhurriedly to tempting taste perfection. Because Roma then places this luscious grape treasure with Roma Wines of years before to await selection from the world's greatest reserves of fine wines for your pleasure. So insist on Roma, R-O-M-A. Roma Wines, made in California for enjoyment throughout the world. And now Roma Wines bring back to our Hollywood soundstage Van Heflin as Arthur Lockwood with Kathy Lewis as Helen Conover in Free Blind Mice, a tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. The defendant will rise and face the court. Does the defendant wish to make a statement before sentence is passed? If not, we will proceed. Richard Leonard Walsh, having been tried and found guilty of the murder of Samuel Bentley in the first degree, you are hereby remanded to the custody of the warden of the state penitentiary. Where at such time as the state shall deem appropriate, you will be executed in the manner described by law. It's a nice, easy way of getting along in the publishing business, if you're lucky. One of your partners commits suicide. You rig the evidence to frame the other partner for his murder? Net result? A new firm, Arthur Lockwood Incorporated. Arthur Lockwood being me. Of course there were the usual appeals and the thing dragged on, but that didn't worry me. I had other things to think about. And number one on that list was Helen Conover. But there I'll admit I was surprised because Dick knew that he'd been framed and must have suspected me and Helen was supposed to be in love with Dick. Well, I played it very carefully. The paternal approach, the sorrowing friend dinner in the theater and stuff like that. But never word, never a wrong word or gesture. And then one night about a week before Dick Walsh was scheduled to be executed, I just brought Helen home from a sedate little tour of some of our most uppercrust hot boxes and we were at her apartment. It was a swell evening, Arthur. You've been awfully sweet to me. Well, it's the least I can do, Helen. Now you mustn't feel that way, Arthur. What way? That you sort of owe me something. Oh, you're something? Well, why should I? It's just that I know how you feel. No wonder if you do. Well, yes, I think so. You've been awfully brave about it, but I think I know. Arthur, once you said that something I said was corny. You remember? Yes, I remember. Well, it was. It wasn't even true. You weren't... you weren't in love with him? I'm afraid I'm a pretty heartless little girl, Arthur. I'm afraid I love myself too much to be really in love with anybody. Well, that's not heartless. That's just honest. You know that... that teased to be executed next week, don't you? Yes. Then he's not much good to me now, is he? Even if he did want to marry me. Now you know I'm heartless and cold-blooded and cruel. I ought to, but I don't. No. I don't have to be that way. I can be other ways. What other ways? Like this. Now, that was that. I didn't care about anything after that, even marriage. We made a quick trip down to Virginia where names in the publishing business wouldn't mean a thing, even ours. And it was all very quiet. No publicity, no fuss, nothing. When we got back, we took a little place in the East 50s. Although, of course, she kept her apartment, I kept mine. It had to be that way for a while, at least until after Dick's execution and the things that cooled down a bit. Well, I knocked off early at the office that day for the looks of the thing. And Helen was already home when I got there. Any particular reason? No, no particular reason. Penny, for your thoughts, darling. My thoughts? Oh, nothing special, I guess. I was just thinking, I don't know. Bet I know. What? You were thinking about Dick. He's going to die tonight. Well, maybe I was, I don't know. Well, I'm glad you did come home anyway, darling, because I wanted to have a little talk with you. John, you're about what? You really shouldn't let it bother you, you know. Like what bother me? The execution. Why should it bother me? He killed a man, didn't he? Why should I worry about what the law does to him? Are you so sure, Arthur? So sure of what? So sure that he did kill a man. Well, right then it hit me. That all the time I'd been thinking how slick everything was, something was wrong, terribly wrong. That all this time she'd been playing with me like a smart young cat with a silly, blind old mouse. Three mice and one of them dead and another with them as good as dead and I was left. All the evidence and everything. Wasn't like Dick to do a thing like that. You don't think he killed him? Arthur, do you remember, oh, it was a long time ago, you asked me what I expected to get out of it? If Sam and Dick squeezed you out of the firm. Yeah, I remember. And you said you might have a better proposition? How? Well, I've decided what I want. Sure, you really want to be a vice president. We can fix that easy enough. Although I sort of had the idea that you'd be pulling out after a while now that we're married. Oh, Arthur, you're priceless. No, I'm afraid of vice presidency, isn't it? All what I have in mind. And I don't know where you got the idea that I'd be pulling out of the firm, ever. What do you want? I want a full partnership, Arthur. A partnership? Yes. Is that so strange? Well, we are partners now, in a way, or my wife. No, I mean a real partnership. A corporate partnership. Look, Helen, you're asking me out of a clear sky to give you a half a share in a million-dollar business. Yes. Well, that'll take some thinking about it. Yes, I suppose it will. I was saying, it was strange about that evidence. For instance, there was the letter. What letter? The letter that was on Sam's desk when he killed himself. It disappeared. You must be crazy. Am I? What about the wristwatch? When he died, it said five after eight. But when they found him, it said ten after seven. And the gun. It was lying on the carpet by his hand, but somehow it got into Dick's wall safe. You knew all that and you let an innocent man go to the chair? Oh, really? Oh, Arthur, you are priceless. I let an innocent man go to the chair? You know, of course, that a wife can't testify against her husband. Oh, no. No, a wife can't be forced to testify against her husband. But she can if her conscience... All right. What do you want? I thought I'd mentioned it. The partnership. I see. Now you're not going to be unreasonable about it, are you, darling? No, Helen. I'm not going to be unreasonable. You know, darling, I was thinking, we ought to rearrange the office space. She'd even turned her back on me now. How would you knock out those parties? She was gazing out of the window, dreaming of the future. Her future, just the way she'd planned it. I couldn't guess how she knew. She must have been hiding somewhere and seeing me, but that didn't matter much now. I only knew that I was right back where I'd started from, the business slipping out of my hands in Sunday. No business and no Helen. I had to think fast and act fast. There was a bronze statuette on the end table. I picked it up and hefted it. It was just about right, so I stepped over behind her. Just the offices then will be just exactly the same. Except for that. Darling, you won't mind that, will you, darling? I hit her hard, but not too hard. Because this was one suicide that was going to come off right. I carried her out to the kitchen and propped her up in the chair in front of the kitchen table. And then I went into the bathroom, got some towels. That wouldn't leave any marks. And I tied her hands and feet and gagged her even if she did come two in a few minutes. It wouldn't matter. All I had to do was come back in a couple of hours and put the towels away and make everything look just as natural as I could. It was a risk those two hours and I knew it. The whole thing was a risk. But it was the best I could do. I looked at her once more before I left. She hadn't moved a muscle. And then I turned on the gas. By the time I got back to my apartment, I was shaking all over. This time I had really killed somebody. But why would anybody connect me with it, I told myself? Why would anybody think it was anything but suicide? She had the motive this day of all days. Everybody knew that she was in love with Walsh. And even if her marriage to me came out, the motive would still hold. And then the doorbell rang and I jumped a foot. At first I wasn't going to answer it and then I thought I'd better. Whoever it was would establish that I was here at home and that I could brush them off before I had believed. Hello, Mr. Larkwin. Busy? Why, uh, no, uh, give it to me. No, no, come right in. Thanks. Right in here, please. Have a seat. Uh-huh. Uh, cigar? Thanks. Oh, pretty good cigar. You must be doing pretty well for yourself nowadays. Uh, better let me light it myself. You seem kind and nervous. Well, you know how it is. I mean, today the... You mean your partner Walsh going to the hot seat? I try not to think about it, but, uh, well, it... Yeah, he'll be sitting down there pretty soon now. Pretty soon. They say it doesn't hurt, but I don't know. Do you ever see one? Look, do we have to talk about it? Makes you feel kind of bad, eh? I wouldn't wonder. Why did you do it, Larkwin? Do what? Framing. I... I don't know what you're talking about. Sure you do. You changed the time, stashed the gun, tore up the suicide note. In fact, as I was saying, you framed him. No, Walsh killed him. You know he did. He was convicted of killing him. All the evidence was that he killed him. Oh, sure. Walsh killed him, all right. What? Walsh killed him. He told us he did. Just today. But it was, uh... Say, look, what is this? Walsh killed him and framed it to look like suicide. Then you came along and pinned it back on Walsh, where it belonged in the first place. He gave us a full confession just this afternoon. Then, uh... Then you... So, I don't know whether we ought to thank you for making it easy for us or try to pin a rap on you. But the DA is willing to let it go, so it's all right with me. He, uh, wants a statement, though. Oh, sure. Sure, anything. Anything you say. By the way, what about that dame? What? What dame? The one in your office that was supposed to be sweet on Walsh. We want her the worst way. You... Why? Accessory to murder. She was in it up to a rears. So that was it. That's how she'd known, and I'd taken my life in my hand for nothing. She was up there dying right now. I was murdering her while Gibbon sat there risking my life to do something that the law would have done for me. Maybe it still wasn't too late, but Gibbon's just sat there talking and talking and talking. Well, you, uh, you just go down there to the DA's office and give him that statement, eh? Sure, sure. Tomorrow, the very first thing. You know, uh... you sure are a heel, Lockwood. But you're a lucky heel. I was 10 blocks away. I didn't dare take a cab. I didn't dare even run for fear that somebody would see me and remember in case it was too late. By the time I got there, I was gasping for breath so I'd run every step. As I let myself in, the smell of gas hit me just like a brick wall. I put my handkerchief over my face and rushed into the kitchen. I opened the window and shut off the gas. She was sitting there just as I left her, but I got her up on the table. And I dragged it over toward the window. I got the gag out of her mouth and it began working her arms, artificial respiration. I knew that much. I worked over by that window and I had a rough face. But I couldn't tell. I couldn't tell yet. The towels that I tied her feet with were still there, but I didn't bother with them or anything else. I just kept working over, up and down, up and down, as though... as though my life depended on it. It did. I'm afraid you're too late, Lockwood. I'm afraid your wife is dead. He was a smart cop, that Gibbons. He knew a lot. He says now he's pretty sure it doesn't hurt the country chair, I mean. Well, tonight I'm gonna find out. Suspense. Presented by Roma Wines, R-O-M-A. Roma America's favorite wines. Well, this is Ken Niles bringing back to our microphone the distinctly star of tonight's suspense play, Van Heflin. Van, you played the part of a publisher tonight. How about publishing a few tips on Roma wines? Well, with wine like Roma, Ken, all you need to do is publish the facts. Well, fact number one is that Roma America's greatest vintner has asked me to present you with this basket of Roma wines for your wonderful performance tonight. Well, that's a very good beginning, Ken. My thanks to you and to Roma. A fact number two, Van, is that your friends will enjoy the Roma California sherry in your gift basket. For golden amber fragrant Roma sherry with tempting nut-like tastes is the perfect first call to dinner. The ideal wine for entertaining anytime. Right, Ken, but tell the people why Roma sherry is so good. Give them the facts, my boy, the facts. All right, you are, Professor Heflin. Fact number three, Roma sherry, like all Roma wines, begins with California's choicest grapes. Then Roma vintners with America's finest winemaking resources guide these select grapes unhurriedly to tempting taste perfection and place them with Roma wines of years before. Later, Roma selects from this vast taste treasure the world's greatest wine reserves for your pleasure. Ken, you're hired. Thank you. And good night. Van Heflin may currently be seen in Metro Golden Mayor's Technicolor musical Till the Clouds Roll By with Van Johnson, Judy Garland, and Frank Sinatra. Tonight's suspense play was written by Kenneth Pettis and Robert Richards. Next Thursday, same time, you will hear Mr. Glenn Ford 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.