 Suspense! In the finest homes and restaurants where distinguished hospitality is a gracious tradition, the choice in wines is C-R-E-S-T-A, B-L-A-N-C-A, Cresta Blanca, Cresta Blanca. Yes, the best serve Cresta Blanca, and whatever the occasion there's a magnificent Cresta Blanca California wine to bring rare pleasure to every discriminating taste. That's why for gracious dining this holiday weekend, the smart hostess offers her guests distinguished Cresta Blanca wines from the finest of the vines. Shenlee's Cresta Blanca wine company, Livermore, California. And now for Roma Wines, that's R-O-M-A, Roma wines for your everyday pleasure. Shenlee brings you radio's outstanding theater of thrills. Suspense! Tonight Roma Wines of Fresno, California present Alan Baxter, a star of a suspense play produced, edited and directed for Shenlee by William Spear. Alan Baxter in Money Talks, a remarkable tale of suspense. I had my credentials and letters of recommendation in my hand, in a dark blue with a conservative pinstripe and a Van Eusen collar with a nip tie and was showing it all off to Mr. Perley. Mr. Perley was one of a mere eight vice presidents of the bankers industrial trust company. He had a big shiny desk with nothing on it and a kind of a mine that went right along with it. He was my meat. Well, Mr. Goff, of course the bank does occasionally have openings for the right kind of man. I don't like to blow my own horn, Mr. Perley, but have you had any previous experience in banking, Mr. Goff? No, sir, I haven't, but there's this. Ah, so you're a graduate of the Harvard Business School. Yes, sir. Investment banking is my field. Well, I must say, Mr. Goff, your grades there were exceptional, most exceptional. I worked hard, Mr. Perley. Banking was my first love, you might say, ever since I can remember. It's always been more than just a business to me. It's been, well, I suppose you could call it an ideal, a sacred trust and the best tradition of our financial and national institutions. I guess that sounds a little romantic. Oh, no, not at all, Mr. Goff, not at all. I see you graduated four years ago, Mr. Goff. Now, during the past four years? Well, you know how it's been with everybody the past four years. Oh, of course. I didn't see you wearing any veterans insignia. I don't like to be ostentatious about it, Mr. Perley. Oh, yes, yes, yes. You understand, Mr. Goff, that you'd have to start in a rather minor capacity. Well, I'm not worried about that, sir. Frankly, Mr. Perley, I'm ambitious. Without being conceited, I'm confident I can make my mark for the bankers' industrial. You'll give me a chance. I like your attitude, Mr. Goff. Come in tomorrow morning. I think we can work something out. Thank you, Mr. Perley. This is a day I'll never forget. I think I can safely predict that you won't either. I gave him the old do-or-die-look-im-straight-in-the-eye-hand shake and left. That was more than two years ago. The whole thing was phony as an eight-dollar bill, all but the part about ambition. There was nothing phony about that. I was going to make my mark for the bankers' industrial, all right, about a hundred thousand dollars worth. You probably know how a bank works, the bookkeeping, I mean. All day long, the tellers pay it out and take it in, and then at three o'clock the bank closes. Only that's when the work really begins, because then the tellers have to hand over their checks and receipts and statements of cash on hand to girls who see running those big calculating machines. When it's all over, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth and a big bank like this one, it has to balance out to the last penny. I mean penny. That's where Anita Willoughby came in. She was young and a mural-looking, but sort of intense too, if you know what I mean. She looked like just what the doctor ordered me. Of course, I couldn't start anything in the bank, and banks are poison on office romances. You'll see why after a while, but a couple of weeks of little attentions, and I was ready. It just happened that I was looking into the window of a men's furnishing store. She was passing by on her way home. I was lighting a cigarette, and it just happened. I turned suddenly, and of course it just happened. I bumped right into her. Oh. Why? It's Willoughby. Oh, I am sorry. Oh, it's all right, Mr. Goff. It just startled me a little. Terribly clumsy of me. You on your way home? Going my way? I don't know. What is your way, Mr. Goff? Well, as a matter of fact, I'm just going down here a couple of blocks to where I left my car. Do you have a car, Miss Willoughby? No, unfortunately I don't. Well, then perhaps I could give you a lift, Miss Willoughby. Perhaps you could, Mr. Goff. Well, we wound up having dinner. It went on from there. And after the first ten minutes, I knew that Demure Act was strictly something for Mr. Perley and the adding machine. Anita Willoughby was smart. She'd been around, and she knew the score. I was glad of this, because it would take less sales talk later on. But in another way, it was too bad, really. It was too bad because I was going to have to kill her. Suspense Roma Wines are bringing you Alan Baxter in Money Talks. Roma Wine's presentation tonight in Radio's Outstanding Theatre of Thrills. Suspense. Suspense. Radio's Outstanding Theatre of Thrills is presented for your enjoyment by Roma. That's R-O-M-A. Roma California Wines. Those better tasting wines enjoyed by more Americans than any other wine. Speaking of enjoyment, there's a practical hint from Roma to make your holiday weekend cool and comfortable. Whether you're planning a trip to the country, a gay picnic at the beach, or a quiet rest at home, keep cooler with refreshing Roma wine and soda. Simply half filled glasses with Roma Burgundy, Roma Sautern, or your favorite Roma wine. Fill up with ice and soda, sweetened to taste, and garnish with a fragrant sprig of mint or colorful fruit slices. You'll find delicious Roma wine and soda America's smartest way to cool off. A wonderful way to say welcome when friends drop in. A marvelous thirst quencher anytime. To beat the heat, you can't beat refreshing Roma wine and soda iced, made with better tasting Roma wine from America's greatest reserves of fine wine. And now Roma wines bring back to our New York soundstage Alan Baxter in Money Talks. A tale well calculated to keep you in suspense. If you've got a plan, if you're cool-headed and cold-blooded and there's something you really want, all the laws and locks in the world won't stop you from latching onto it. That's what I'd always figured and that's what I'd figured now. That's why I sold two years of my life to a bank for a lousy 60 bucks a week. That's why I made the play for Anita. And that's why I was going to have to kill Anita. But before that, there was a lot of other ground I had to cover with Anita. I spent six months more covering it than I was ready. We were having dinner in a quiet little place we used to go to and Anita was happy as a lark. But I was bearing down hard and an act I'd been working up all week. What's the matter, Cliff? I don't know. Oh, come on. You've been moody like this for days. What's on your mind? Well, it's about us, I guess. What about us? I don't know. When I first started to work in that salt mine two years ago, I thought I was going to set the world on fire. But now... What's all this got to do with us, Cliff? What kind of a life is it to look forward to two years and I'm third assistant cashier? Maybe in ten years I'll even get to be first cashier. So what? You didn't expect them to make you majority stockholder, did you? Or if you did, you shouldn't have. Honey, I wish we could get away from here. Go to places, see things, have fun. So do I, Cliff. Yeah, but on what? Well, maybe in ten years or so when you are first cashier. All right, laugh at me. I got it coming. It's a job, that's all, Cliff. That's the way most jobs are. It's not the kind of job you want your husband to have, is it? My husband. What do you think I've been talking about all this time? What's the use if we can't look forward to getting married and having some fun, some romance, some glamour in our lives? It's a funny proposal, Cliff, but I like what it says. Well, some guy with a hundred thousand bucks came along, and I can't blame you. I'd rather have you with my hundred thousand, Cliff. Darling, why can't we have both? Where's the justice in it? When I think of the millions, millions in cash money that's gone through my hands in the past two years, and what have I got? I can make you feel funny sometimes, Cliff. What? Handling all that money. Yeah, yeah. Sometimes I can almost hear it talking to me. So can I. You too, huh? Listen to me, did you ever get to thinking how you could get that hundred thousand? Of course I have, but I never thought of a way that it would work. Suppose you had. Suppose there was one. Listen, Cliff, I've got no scruples. You only live once, but I'm allergic to penitentiaries. I asked you a question. You mean a way that was absolutely certain, guaranteed safe? Yeah. I'd buy it. Listen, baby, you know what's the matter with all those guys that try to clip a bank? They're not dishonest. No, I mean it. Look what happens. What always happens. The guy's hired up where he's got a tip in the market after a while, he takes a little more and then a little more, but he always figures that he's going to pay it back. He covers it up with a lot of fancy bookkeeping until along comes some auditor that's a little smarter than he is and Bluey, the big vacation, the long-term lease. All because the guy is fundamentally honest. Well, you can't win, I guess. No? Listen, you know the guys who do? The big shots, the presidents, board chairman. And those guys clip a bank that grab themselves anywhere from a hundred grand to a cool minion on a fine night and blow. Never hear of them again. Bet they're sitting pretty somewhere and you know why? Because they were dishonest. They planned it. They'd laugh themselves to death at the idea of paying it back. Only you're not a big shot, darling. Listen, they do it all at one clip throughout the country before anybody finds out. That's what I'm talking about. Sure, but they have a chance. You don't. No, but us, between us, we do. We? Listen, Dick Breen, the first cashier, takes his vacation in August. Every Thursday Jerry Malone II goes over to investment. They're teaching that side of the business. That means that for two Thursdays in August, I take his place and can sign for cash from the vault. Wait a minute. And all I have to do is give you receipts so that when you add it up at the end of the day, we get our balance. Don't you see it? What kind of a receipt? Any kind. One of the big payroll receipts will do it. But how do I get it? I write it myself. You won't question it. Oh. Now, do you get it? It's all for risky, Cliff. What about the next day? That's what I'm trying to tell you. You don't wait for the next day. You realize how far from these United States you can get in 18 or 20 hours nowadays? You can get to places where you can live like a king for the rest of your life on $100,000. The rest of my life, Cliff. Sure, baby, sure. Why not? Well, what about it? All right, Cliff. I'll do it. First Thursday in August was six weeks away but waiting for them to pass was like living through six lifetimes. We went over it again and again, every detail, every possible variation. There's no use saying I wasn't nervous because I was. A couple of times I even thought Anita and I were being followed in the car. I was that bad. But I managed to keep under control of the bank and the big day finally rolled around. I waited until about a quarter to 12, just before the noon rush hour, and I marched over to Mr. Perley's desk in a casual and nonchalant. But this was the worst part. Right here, right now, my hands were sweating, my mouth was dry until I began to be afraid of the words that stick in my throat. There was nothing to it, really. It's the kind of things that's done every day in a bank only. Not the way I was doing it. Sure, I was scared. Oh, hello, Cliff. Now, what is it? You want to countersign this for me, Mr. Perley? 104,000? Okay. Yeah, I mean, eastern chemically. Want us to get their payroll together on Thursdays after this, some kind of new accounting system over there. Oh. There you are. Thank you, Mr. Perley. All those weeks of worry and jumpy nerves, there it was. Went to the vault and drew the cash, and the worst was over. When I came out on the floor again, the noon crowds were beginning to line up in front of the windows, keeping everybody on the jump and minding their own business. After lunch hour, and I don't think you even noticed the canvas bag I was carrying. It's that usual. After he left, I simply took a minute to transfer the cash from the bag into my own briefcase, and that was that. When I came back, I strolled over to Anita's machine of the eastern chemical receipt that I'd made up the night before. Oh, Miss Wolby. Yes, Mr. Goff? Eastern chemical has changed their payroll day to Thursday. Here's the receipt. Don't forget to include it in your tally. Yes, Mr. Goff. Oh, but sweat it out until five o'clock. I went out to lunch myself. I didn't eat much. I was beginning to get nervous again. I went back to my desk and tried to look busy, but I kept thinking of all the things that could go wrong. I fairly happened to call eastern chemical on some other business. Or if it turned out to be one of those days that come about twice a year when you can't get a balance and you can't find the error, and everybody has to go over every transaction of the day until they do, that 104,000 item would stand out like a red flag at a businessman's lunch. I was beginning to think about what I would have to do afterwards, too. But all that wasn't getting me anywhere, and I knew it. Couldn't have stopped the thing now if I'd wanted to. Finally, three o'clock came. The bank closed. The gang went to work on their totals, and the girls began to bring me their balance sheets. Nita was the last one. Hey, why, Mr. Goff? Balance? Uh-huh. How are the others? Well, I guess that's all in, Miss Wolby. Good night. Good night, Mr. Goff. Oh, Mr. Pearly. Oh, there's Cliff. Oh, got your balance? Yes, sir. All in order, I guess. New York. Uh-huh. All right, Cliff, thank you. Well, going to do a little homework tonight. Pretty bulky briefcase you're taking home there. Oh, yes. I wanted to do a little reading up on that South American situation. Good boy. Well, good night, Cliff. Good night, Mr. Pearly. I had $100,000 in wonderful, bright, green folding money. But driving out of town, I felt edgy and depressed. I even got the idea I was being followed again. You know what it was all about, of course, was Anita. What I was going to have to do. I tried to forget it until now. I tried to kid myself that there'd be some other way, but I knew there wasn't. She was smart, too smart. You'd have the little boys in blue after me before I could get to the airport. One thing was for sure. I wasn't splitting that dough with her or anyone else. So it had to be this way. It just had to be. So far, I was pretty sure the idea had never entered your head. I'd let her get the plane tickets to Mexico, although, of course, I had others of my own to Rio. I told her to meet me at the little shack I had in the country because it would be safer. She'd already arrived when I got there. Cliff? It's okay, baby. You ready? Are you sure? You mean, did I get it? Look, look at that. What do you think that stuff is, huh? How about that? So you did. You really did. Of course I did. Did you think I wouldn't? Well, something might have gone wrong, Cliff. Not with me, baby, not with me. Hey, have you got that eastern chemical receipt I told you to slip it out of the heap when you got through? Yeah, I've got it. Let's see it. Well, here it is. Uh, huh? Okay, that's all I need. That... that's what? I'm sorry about this, Nita. Honestly, I really am. Cliff, no. I got the rope and tied her up and tied a towel over her head, mostly because I didn't want to see her face. When I got out the gasoline, spread about half of it around the room, took the rest of it down the cellar and poured it in a big shallow pan I had down there. There was a candle set in the middle of the pan and it came about three inches above the level of the gasoline. It would take about two hours to burn down. By that time, I'd be in a plane over the Atlantic Ocean. In a way, it was pretty rugged and I felt sort of bad about it, but you always hear that they suffocate from the smoke before the fire ever gets to them. So I lit the candle and I got out of there. That was over it was done with now and I began to hear it again all the way down there in the clipper. I could hear that money talking. Maybe I'd get a rancho, one of those cattle outfits with a big hacienda and a couple of dozen servants. There's plenty of dough and Argentine beef or maybe it would be oil or nitrates. All I knew for sure was that this 100,000 was only the beginning. With smart operating, I'd roll it up to a million before I was 40. In Rio, I registered under my new name of Clarence Gage for the best suite and the best hotel in town, got ready to relax. Next day, I got the times that they fly down here for the big shots and there it was on the suburban page. They'd found Anita and she'd been identified by jewelry and stuff and had mentioned that she was employed at the bankers' industrial and hinted she might have been in some trouble there. That was all to the good and I relaxed even more. Then the next day, I got a very funny feeling all the way up in the elevator, I felt it. I didn't like it. I didn't like it at all. When I opened my door, I liked it even less. Mr. Gage? Yeah, who are you? Gorman's the name, Sam Gorman. You and me have a little business to transact. Have we? I don't think I know you, Mr. Gorman. Maybe this heater will jog your memory, huh? Guns never remind me of anything but trouble and I don't like trouble. But you got it, Mr. Goth. What's the pitch? You mean this heater doesn't remind you of anything? Like money? About a hundred grand? Or somebody named Anita? You got a rotten memory, haven't you? You're a cop. You're wasting your time. Cop? I know some guys who get a big kick out of that. No, I'm no cop, Mr. Goth. Now, let's talk then. What do you want? Can't you guess, Mr. Goth? I wouldn't try. I want the dough, Mr. Goth, the money. What makes you think you're gonna get it? Well, the one thing, this. I wouldn't try that again. Gun or no gun. No. No rough stuff, Mr. Goth. Yeah, I owe him at least that much. You'll be silly, Sam. All we want is the money. Now, start looking for it. Sure. He just tried to fry you in gasoline. That's all. No rough stuff. It'll just make complications with the local police and you know it. Now, stop being jealous and find the money. Anita, they said, well, it's said in the paper that... a little fire at your place. Oh, they found somebody all right. Just didn't happen to be me. You don't mean... you didn't deliberately... Get him, will you? I don't think the guy's got much of a sense of humor, sugar. With somebody Sam didn't like. Nobody that'll be missed. All right, I've got no sense of humor. Maybe I'm dumb too. I don't get it. Well, you see, Cliff, we never did like the idea of leaving the country. You said it. But this way, I'm off the hook. We can go back any time we want to. Because legally, I'm dead, see? May I ask who this we is that suddenly got into the conversation? Me and Sam, my husband. Your husband? That's me. Mm-hmm. I went to work at the bank for the same reason you did, Cliff. It was going to be a stick up and I was going to help from the inside. Only your way seems so much better. Oh, how do you like that? Yes. How does it feel, wonder boy? Me trying to tell you how to be dishonest. Well, they don't have to be any hard feelings, Cliff. At least I don't have any. It was really Sam's fault what happened to me. What? Or almost did. He lost you somehow following you out to the place. We were almost certain you'd try it, of course. Of course, yeah. I still owe him some lumps for that. A hundred thousand really wasn't enough for both of us. For two bits, I'd give it to him. Sam, haven't you found that money yet? Where is it, wonder boy? I don't think I have it here, do you? I do. Look for a brown leather briefcase, Sam. Two will get you ten. It's all right there. Yeah? Well, here's the briefcase. Well, well. I guess wonder boy just didn't have much confidence in banks, huh? Not that I blame him. Well, I guess we better be going. Listen, Anita, it was a bum deal all the way around. Mm-hmm. I'm really sorry about that other part about you, I mean. I believe it. You even said so. No hard feelings, Cliff. I think wonder boy is leading up to something. Yeah, I can see you're the intellectual type. All right, how about leaving me a little? Nuts. Why not, Sam? Just a thousand or so. All right, see you. That won't get him any place, even down here. Listen, you don't think I'm going to stick around down here now, do you? I've got to get back to the States and make another pitch. Give him the money, Sam. One thousand. And, uh, Cliff. Yeah? I'd be a little careful about going back to the States if I were you. Sure. And that goes double, Anita. About being careful. I don't get it. You will. And that money begins to talk. Talk about honor among thieves. But it could have been worse. I'd only lost two years of my life, not all of it. So, a month later, I was out in the West Coast. Prudentials, dark blue pinstripe, van huesen and all. This time the sucker was a Mr. Ambrose. Oh, record at the business school. Certainly impressive, Mr. Gade. You worked hard, Mr. Ambrose. Banking has always seemed more than just a business to me. It's been, well, an ideal of sacred trust and the best tradition of our financial and national institution. Ah, you've got the right spirit, Mr. Gage. Come in tomorrow morning and I think we can work something out. So, it began all over again. Only about three months later, there was a little man that we had standing in line in front of my window and his business was strictly personal. Clarence Gage? Yes, that's right. Shall we have a little private talk? Well, I guess. Oh, can you take over for me a minute, Harry? Sure thing. Well, maybe for a little longer than a minute. Well, now, what can I do for you, Mr.... You used to work under the name of Clifford Goff on the East Coast. Oh. Yeah. Headquarters. You got me all wrong on that. I didn't have anything to do with it. What would I be working here for if I had that kind of do? I can prove to you that I never got a cent. Now, wait a minute. You knew the girl, didn't you? Sure. I heard what had happened. Well, I've been going around with her and I got scared. That's all. Yeah, I'll bet you do. Well, she's dead. Neeta? Oh, no, she's not dead. It was another girl. Catch a cold, Mr. Goff. You're under arrest for attempted murder and grand larceny. It's a funny thing what happens to people when they hear that money begin to talk. I guess Neeta finally heard it, too, before she died. You see, Sam Garman started a big gambling joint in Las Vegas and it was held up and he was killed. There was a girl with him that was killed, too, Neeta. But before she died, she talked plenty. Told him everything. Well, she won't talk anymore, but that money will. Wonder who that money is talking to now. In just a moment, we will bring you Alan Baxter, tonight's star of Suspense. Presented by Roma, that's R-O-M-A, Roma wines, America's largest selling wines. When you enjoy your favorite Roma wine, you taste the rich reward of nature's treasure. Selected grapes pressed at the peak of taste goodness, then guided unhurriedly with the ancient skill of Roma master vintners and winemaking resources unmatched in America to taste perfection. These Roma wines are placed with mellow Roma wines of years before and from these, the world's greatest wine reserves, Roma later selects for your pleasure. This holiday weekend, when entertaining friends, serve Roma California wines. Yes, for a grand and glorious forth, enjoyed better tasting amber Roma sherry, ruby red Roma port, or golden Roma muscatel, and you enjoy America's favorite wines, now at lowest prices in years. This is Alan Baxter. It's a great pleasure to appear on tonight's broadcast of Suspense. Next week, Suspense will again originate from New York, when Roma wines will bring you one of the most provocative and glamorous actresses in America, Miss Gloria Swanson. Tonight. Tonight's Suspense play was written by Robert L. Richards. Next Thursday, same time, you will hear Miss Gloria Swanson as star of Suspense, produced for Schenle by William Spear. This is CBS The Columbia Broadcasting System.