 Now, the Roma Wine Company of Fresno, California presents... Suspense! Tonight, Roma Wines bring you Mr. George Murphy, a star of death on Highway 99. 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 excellent California wines that can add so much pleasantness to the way you live. To your happiness and entertaining guests. To your enjoyment of everyday meals. Yes, right now a glass full would be very pleasant, as Roma Wines bring you Mr. George Murphy, in a remarkable tale of... Suspense! Dear Julie. The clock here in my room just struck seven, which means I have about an hour for writing this letter to you. I guess already you've said, who's this from? What goes? Oh, I'll tell you right off. Remember Morton Blake? Speed Blake, they call me in high school. The guy who sat behind you in Algebra II and Chemistry? That was more than seven years ago. And I'm writing to you because there's no one else in the world that I give a darn about. There never has been, Julie, since I saw you the first time. Well, I sure had other plans about you, and that's probably a surprise too, because I never had the nerve to let you know that I was alive before. But as it is with me now, this letter is all you'll ever know. A letter telling you what a mess I've made of things. What a mess I've made of my life. You see, Julie, it's because I always decided too late what to do. Because I always was a coward. That's why I never spoke to you and told you back then what I thought about you until it was too late and you had married someone else. That's why I'm writing the last letter I'll ever write to a girl who can't even remember my face. That's why I'm waiting for Captain Shannon to come and get me. You see, Julie, I'm a murderer. Yes, in just a little while I'll see the squad car pull up outside and then all the fumbling and the mistakes will be over. But I want you to understand that's all. Because it really was all her fault, Pauline's. Do you remember Pauline? She was that strawberry blonde who hated you so much. Of course she hated you. Pauline hated everyone. She was a sharp and mean and not like you. But when you got married, I married Pauline just to show myself that I didn't care. Just because she was there handy and you were lost. It was five long years we were clawing at each other like two cats tied up in a sack. Right up to that last night, she'd gone to a show alone and I picked her up afterwards. And I was a little late, so she really began riding me. She was in a fine mood. One thing after another. I tell you, I've just about had my fill, more than I've stood it as much as I'm going to. As much of what? As much of what? Oh, look, Pauline, I worked late. I'm tired. Why don't you just sit there and be quiet? Yes, you'd like that, wouldn't you? You'd like it if I was deaf and dumb. Well, you won't shut me up, Morton Blake. When I want to talk, I'll talk. What are you stopping for? A boulevard stop sign. No, isn't that silly. It's almost two in the morning. There isn't a car in sight. Look, Pauline, let me drive the car, will you? All right, sure, sure. Take your time after I waited almost an hour in the cold. You don't care about anybody but yourself. Pauline. What? Look, let's stop kidding ourselves. Let's be honest for five minutes. You're a fine one to speak about being honest. I just wonder if it really was work that kept you tonight. After all, I know a couple of things. Oh, forget that, William. Listen, what I'm trying to say is that our marriage is finished. You know it and I know it. It was no good before we started. Yes, and whose fault was that, may I ask? I know what you were thinking of then. I know who you were moaning about. I know that. All right, all right. But why should you and I go on? Why don't we just call the whole thing off? You've been working too hard, Mort. You're delirious. You really think I'd ever give you a divorce? Well, that's as bad for you as it is for me, Pauline. Why not? I got my reasons. But we're wasting our lives. You're still young and pretty. You could get a much better deal. You think you could, too, don't you, Mort? Well, I don't know. Well, just because you want your freedom so much, it's no go. Because I like to make you squirm, because I loathe and despise you. Do you get me, Mort? Yes. Yes, Pauline, I get you. Let's, uh, let's don't talk anymore. Let's forget it. Look, you don't have to speed, just because we're having... Look, a minute ago, I was going too slow. You said I... Never mind what I said. Stop going so fast. Well, I'm under the limit. Dry up. Mort will turn over. I said dry up. Mort, there's someone on the road. Morton! Look out! You're gonna hit him! You stay in the car, Pauline. Don't go, Mort. Don't go. Maybe he's dead. No, maybe. You stay where you are. He's moving. Hey, mister. Mister, can you hear me, mister? I'm not sure of a fault. Couldn't see me in the dark. Don't try to talk. Here, look, just hang on to me. I'll get you into the car. There you are. You're on your feet. Who are you? Name, Haggerty. Okay, Mr. Haggerty. And I'll take it easy. I'll take you to a doctor. Yes, yes. Doctor, quickly. Doctor, quickly. He's passed out. Pauline, open the back door. Is he dead? No, no. He's alive. There. Now if we hurry. We've got to get him to the hospital right away. There's the result of your temper, Mort. My temper? Well, you know it wasn't my fault. He jumped right in front of the wheels. Oh, not your fault. Not your fault. He doesn't seem to think it was your fault either. Well, it wasn't. You saw. He ran right off on the side without looking. Yeah, you're lucky. As usual, Mort. Lucky? What are you talking about? Well, the streets are completely deserted. Well, it's late. What's so strange about that? Nothing. Only there weren't any witnesses. That's right. No witnesses except him and you. That's right. Him and me. What's your hurry, Morton? What's my... Well, I've got to get him to the hospital. He may be dying. No, Mort. He's not dying. You don't have to hurry. He's dead. He's dead. She said it just like that. He's handing me a birthday present. I pulled the car to the curb and got into the back seat. The old man was sprawled across the cushions. His head twisted back. When I put my face down, there wasn't a whisper of any breathing on my cheek. I slipped my hand inside his coat. Still as a stone. Not a flicker from his heart. I crawled back under the wheel and sat there thinking. Mort. Yeah. You know what you've done? Yeah. He's dead. That means you're guilty of... What is it, Mort? Murder? No. No, it's not murder. Or manslaughter. And even manslaughter will mean prison, won't it, Mort? Huh? I said manslaughter will mean prison, won't it? Prison? Well, no. No, it wasn't my fault. You heard him say so. Yeah. If I testify that I heard, then you'll get off. Is that it? What? Well, you'll have to testify. Or else... Or else what, Morton? Or else I'll be sent up. There weren't any other witnesses. That's right, Morton. Hey. What are you trying to tell me? Mort, you must have imagined that poor man said it wasn't your fault. What? Because I didn't hear him say a thing. You're lying. You're lying, Pauline. You heard him. And as soon as I put him in the car, he said it. He said it's not your fault. Can you prove it, Mort? Can I prove? This is what I wanted. I'll have my freedom, but you won't have yours. You'll be that jailbird speed-blake, and you'll have years and years and years to think about all the other girls you used to know. Won't you, Mort? She had a thin smile on her lips. I got a crawling feeling at the back of my neck. I held onto the wheel so tight that my knuckles began to ache. Well, Morton, what are you waiting for? What was I waiting for? What had I always waited for? Well, Morton... I began to think of something. A line that my beloved wife's ran through my brain. She said, no witnesses. There were no witnesses. Why wait, Mort. Be a man. No witnesses. No witnesses. I could dump the old man's body somewhere on the edge of town. No one would be the wiser. No, no one but Pauline. But what if there was no Pauline? Where are you going? This isn't the way, Mort. Mort! Morton, look at this pedometer. You're going the wrong way. We're way past the city limits. Morton. Morton, stop this car at once. Stop it. Do you hear? Okay. Okay, I'll stop the car, Pauline. Mort, you... you didn't really believe me when I said I wouldn't testify, did you, Mort? Yes. Yes, I believed you. But I was only kidding. I wouldn't think of not telling... I believed you, Pauline. But you know I'd never do anything. I believed you, so I'm going to kill you. You're... you're joking. Am I? You wouldn't dare. In any way, how could you? Look outside, Pauline. Did you notice where we are? What do you mean? We're on Austin Bluff. Remember, the cliff is just ahead. What? Morton. It must be at least 300 feet to the bottom. Pretty picture, huh, baby? Please. Please, Morton, I... Come on, get out of the car. No. Oh, no. No! Oh, yes, yes. We're going for a walk, Pauline. No, no! Nice walk in the moonlight, just you and me. After five years, we ought to have a little romance. We, too. She didn't budge, and her eyes blazed at me. I got out of the car and closed the door. Walked around to the other side to pull her out. But she locked the door from the inside before I got there. I ran fast back to the other side. I wasn't fast enough. She'd locked that door, and the back doors, too. She and Hagerty were locked in. Oh, it made me crazy wild to see her white face in there. The face that had kept me from anything a guy could want in life. Come on, open up. Open the door. You can't get away. I've got the key, so quit stalling. Open up. Hey, stop it. Stop that horn around. Okay, I'll fix that. We'll keep that ragged up for long, sweetheart. Let's see now. You see, Pauline? You'd be smart to come on out and get it over with. I pressed my face against the glass. She was crouched down in the front seat. Her eyes watched every move I made. She was trapped, and she knew it. I could see Hagerty in the back seat. His head still twisted back. His eyes were shut. The sprawled old party had a look of pain and surprise. Even while I was, I felt bad about him, but I had to hurry. Pauline was fooling with the lights, flashing them on and off. I fell around on the ground, and I found a good solid rock. I picked it up, and I showed it to her. Open up. It's your last chance, or I'll smash the window. Okay, whatever you say, baby. Here we go. You see that glow down there? That's water. You can even yell. No one will hear you now. I won't turn in. You're not the kind of person to kill more than you can do it. Men's are bringing you a storm as to Highway 99 by Larry Marcus and Robert Light. We'll move on to his presentation tonight in Radio's Outstanding Theatre Thrill's Suspense. Snacks of Suspense. This is Truman Bradley for Roma Wines. Evening is the mellow time of the day, and the time for a mellow wine, a pleasurable wine like Roma California Port. Says famed hostess Elsa Maxwell, at night after dinner, relax in the living room and enjoy a glass of delicious Roma Port. Serve cool. I find Roma Port is delightful, too, with sandwiches or snacks. Yes, red. Red Roma Port is rich and fruity, a proud and gracious wine in a family of great wines. Like all Roma Wines, Roma Port is the happy result of carefully selected grapes, gathered at flavorfulness in California's finest vineyards, gently pressed to capture natural goodness. Then by a process as slow and as old as time, brought to magnificent liquid perfection by the unhurried care of Roma's ancient winemaking skill. And finally, bottled at the wineries in California. All Roma Wines are true wines, unvaryingly good always, and so inexpensive, too. Remember, because of uniformly fine quality at reasonable cost, more Americans enjoy Roma than any other wine. Always ask for Roma. R-O-M-A. Roma Wines. And now Roma Wines bring back to our Hollywood soundstage George Murphy as Morton Blake in Death on Highway 99, a play well calculated to keep you in suspense. Yes, Julie, I did it. And when you get this letter, you'll be the only person who'll really know why, who'll know that I'm only sorry that I didn't kill her sooner. All right, so you can't quite remember which guy I was if I was the tall one or the red-headed one, or if you spoke to me when you saw me in the hall. That doesn't matter to you or to me now. What matters is that I lived with her for five years. Five years I might have spent at least thinking about you. Well, it was done. I climbed back in the car. The clock on the dash said 20 after 2. I still had to get rid of the old man's body before daylight, so I started driving. When I came to a strip of forest along the road, I stopped my car and I got out. And right then, the beam of a spot like pinned me in my tracks. I didn't move. I saw it was a cop. Hey, what you doing there? He started walking toward me, rolling his motorcycle. No parking anywhere along the highway, Mr. Okay, officer. Okay, I didn't know. This ain't no lovers lane. You gotta keep moving. I'm sorry. I'll get going right away, officer. Say, you're not carrying any vegetables in your car, are you? No, no. There's a beetle thing going on again. I just better take a look in the back there. Oh, there's nothing in there. Honest. What? Listen. Where does that guy think he's going? Oh, yeah. Yeah, he's speeding all right, isn't he? Say, am I gonna slap a tickin' on to him? But you clear out of here, Mr. And don't ever park in this highway again. No, no, no. Never again. So I took another road and got back on highway 99. By then, I felt jittery. I smoked one cigarette after another, and the sweat was rolling down my face. I found another spot, and this time, I made sure I was alone. Then I parked the car, and I opened the back door. I reached in for Haggerty's body. He was still limp and warm, and really, I was sorry about him. You see, that proves I wasn't a killer. That proves it was her fault, Pauline's. And if she hadn't been like she was, I never would've killed. Not anyone. Well, I got the old man out onto the road, and I left him there. I put the car in the garage and looked it over to see that everything was okay. No blood on the seat. That was a break. The window was broken, of course, but I could fix that. There was mud on the tire, so I got out the garden. I was gonna wash them down. Then I went into the house. I was pretty nervous, and I knew I'd have to be on my toes for the next three or four days, so I took a couple of sleeping pills. They did the trick. I was asleep the minute my head hit the pillow. The telephone sounded like it was ringing miles away. I didn't know if it was day or night, but I stumbled down the hall, shaking my head, trying to clear my brain. Hello? Hello? Is this Martin Blake? Yes. This is Sergeant Graham, down at headquarters. Yeah, is anything wrong? I got some bad news for you, Blake. Bad news? Yeah, a report just came in from the East Precinct. A couple of campers found a body at the bottom of the cliff. Yes? Well, it's tough to tell you, but the body's been identified as your wife, Pauline. It looked like an accident. They didn't suspect a thing. I was in the clear. The sleeping pills were still working. I wanted to go back to bed, but I didn't dare. I had to get down to that morgue right away to identify what was left of Pauline. I thought that might throw me, but I was as cold as steel when they took me in to see her. Hey, hey, hey, hey, take it easy, take it easy there. Sit down here. I'll get you some water. Oh, thanks. I'm all right now. Yeah, take a swallow of this. Thank you. I guess you must get pretty hard into these things after a while. Yeah, I see them every day. I don't know, never really get used to it. We had another sad case this morning. Another accident? Yeah. They brought in an old fella, one of them on Highway 99, smacked by a hit-and-run driver. Is that right? Yeah, that's a nasty business. Of course this old man isn't dead, but still, you know... Hey, you're a jumpy. Yeah, I'll get you another glass. Oh, thanks. You see, seeing my wife, I guess... Sure, I understand. Yeah, just take it easy now. Thank you. Feel better? Oh, yeah, yeah, sure. You were telling me the old man wasn't dead? No, and just by luck, one of the boys got a very faint heartbeat when he fell his pulse. We went to work on him fast, and it looks like he's going to pull through. Well, that's sure a break. For him, I mean. Yeah, he's at the receiving hospital. The report is he's coming along fine. He got a bad smack in the head, lost his memory. Oh, for good? No, no, they say it's only temporary. They think when he snaps out of it, he may even remember the dirty rut that hit him. Haggerty was alive. Alive. Well, of course, I should have been glad. The poor old guy had never done anything to me. But I couldn't think that way then. Haggerty was alive, and he'd remember me. And he'd remember Pauline was with me. I almost gave up. I almost shouted, All right, I did it. I killed my wife. But something kept me fighting. Long enough to get out of there. Long enough to drive to the hospital where Haggerty was. It was an awful chance to take, but I couldn't stay away. I was just walking up to the desk to find out his room number. Blake, how's your morning, Blake? Oh, yes, yes, I am. I'm Captain Shannon from Headquarters. I just saw you down at the morgue. Oh, yes, I didn't remember. Well, can't tell you how sorry I am about your wife. Oh, thank you very much, Captain. Funny you're running into you here. Yes, I, well, I thought I'd find out if I could get a room and take a rest for a few days. I feel pretty well shot. Yes, I can imagine. But I don't think you have a chance the way hospitals are crowded. You'd better get your rest at home. Get a friend to stay with you. Yes, I guess you're right, Captain. I'd drive you home, but I get called down on this hit-and-run case. Oh, oh, the old man, the attendant at the morgue was telling me. He was? I shouldn't talk to you about such things the way you feel. Well, but it looks like it all turned out all right. The old man's only shock, not even the bad bruise or broken bone. He's conscious now, so I'm going up to talk to him. You, you, uh, do you think you'll know who hit him? Well, they said over the phone he has a good description, and even if it isn't good, we've got the tire print of the car and the footprint of the driver. You have? From where? There was a lot of mud where the car stopped. The driver was careless. That kind usually are. Oh, uh, there's a doctor on the case now. Oh, Dr. Leeds. Yes? I was just going to walk up and talk to the old tigerty. Oh, yes, I know. The nurse told you we described the driver, Captain. Yeah. I'm going to take it down and then make the arrest. Fine, but would you mind waiting about two hours? The old man's sleeping now, and rest is important to a man his age. Mind, Doctor? What's time to me? It's two hours more for the hit-and-run driver, whoever he is, to wonder just how smart he really was. And we know the answer. So, Julie, I'm waiting now. I'm writing you all this because I got a crazy idea that you have a right to know. You, a girl I knew seven years ago, who won't remember me, who won't remember that nickname Speed, or if I had freckles. I did. Or if you signed my book on Class Day. You didn't, because I didn't have the nerve to ask you. So maybe it isn't a real girl at all that I'm writing this to. I guess I'm writing to how I failed. To how I never did anything in time. To how I thought good and acted bad. You see, what I think you were adds up to how much I failed. I guess every guy in the world has someone like you, a girl in a blue dress, and successes having her now, not back long way in the past. They drove up now. Captain Shannon, and yes, a couple of cops. And Haggerty, old Haggerty's walking. Okay. Well, I only got seconds to get ready for them. So goodbye, Julie. Goodbye. All right, you can come in. It isn't locked. I'll order have a little talk. Oh, sure. Sure I know. This is the man, isn't it, Haggerty? Yes, but I told you, Captain, it wasn't his fault. You told him? You told him what? Of course. I stepped out and you couldn't miss hitting me. But he left you there. You might have been dying, Haggerty. I know. He got scared. I don't blame him. I'm not going to make any charges, Captain, and that's that. Well, I guess that's all, Blake. Oh. You ought to be happy about it. But didn't he tell you about Pauline, about my wife? What about your wife? Well, that she was with me in the car. Last night, your wife was with you? Haggerty. He didn't tell you? And now it's too late. What's wrong with you, Blake? Somebody get some water. It's too late. I took cyanide when you drove up. It's too late. You see, I killed Pauline. But Haggerty never said... I know. I know now. He didn't see it. He passed out before I put him in the car. But it's too late. It's funny about me, Captain. I was always too late. And he used to call me speed. Oh, speed, Blake. The wines have brought you George Murphy, a star of death on Highway 99. Tonight's study in Suspense. Before Mr. Murphy returns to our microphone, this is Truman Bradley for Roma Wines, the sponsor of Suspense. Tomorrow is Friday. So, if you are planning a fish dinner, serve pale golden Roma California sautern, the perfect wine with fish. Famed hostess Elsa Maxwell says, Roma sautern tastes exactly right with every kind of seafood. I serve my guests chilled Roma sautern often, because it adds so much to the pleasures of dining. Yes, you'll enjoy the delicacy of fragrance and taste-goodness of Roma sautern with fish or fowl. They are perfect flavor mates. Just before dinner, mix up some cocktails with full-flavored Roma vermouth, sweet or dry, made and bottled in the heart of California's famous vineyards, the better vermouth that makes better cocktails. Get Roma sautern and Roma vermouth the next time you shop. Always ask for Roma, R-O-M-A, and enjoy the best for only pennies a glass. This is George Murphy with an important word from our government. The government is speeding expansion of civilian production and maintaining price and wage controls, which are still necessary to safeguard our economy against the danger of inflation. You can help by spending sensibly, cooperating with price and rationing controls still in effect, holding out of your war bonds and continuing to save for the future by buying as many victory bonds as you can afford. George Murphy appeared through the courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Producers of our vines have tender grapes. Next Thursday, you will hear Mr. Joseph Cotton as star of Suspense Radio's Outstanding Theatre of Thrills. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.