 And now for today's thrilling Nick Carter adventure, the case of a blue mink presented by Old Dutch Clash. As our story opens, Nick and Patsy are entering a large department store very early in the morning. Nick, I didn't know you were obtained by the Fur Protective Association, too. You've probably forgotten Patsy. It's been years since they've had occasion to call on me. This new series of fur thefts is really serious, they tell me. And you think this department store is the best place to catch up on them? I do. They've suffered the biggest losses at any store in town so far. Come on, here's the elevator. Oh, four please. And you think I'll be able to spot if I see one? Oh, I hope so. As a rule, women who steal furs have a large receptacle of some kind, the fag or bundle in which they can hide the furs while they make their getaway. Also, they have a sort of shifty look about them. You watch closely. You've had a lot more experience with crooks than most sales girls have, Patsy. Patsy, I hope you're right. I'll try anyway. All right, come on. This is the 45th. Miss Cheryl, the detective on this floor, said she'd... Mr. Carter. That's right. You're Miss Cheryl? Yes. And this is Miss Bowen, who's going to be our new sales girl? Oh, well, for a while anyway. I only hope I can make good. Oh, I'm sure. I hope so, too. Now, if you'll come and see Miss Bowen, I'll show you a way to leave the thingy. Oh, just a minute, Miss Cheryl. Me. Suppose I see a customer who looks suspicious. What do I do? Call Miss Cheryl if you can, and call me. Then keep your eyes open and don't leave the customer for a second if you can help it. All right, Nick. I hope this works. Push me luck. Just use your common sense, Patsy. That's always better than luck. So long. Nick, this is Patsy. Ah, Patsy, how do you like being a clerk in a department store now that you've had a full day of it? Nick, I think maybe I have one of those fur thieves here now. She's got a big bundle, just the way you said, and she's acting queer. Oh, where are you calling from? I'm using the phone right here in the fur department. She can see me, but she can't hear what I'm saying. Anyone else there? No. The other girl who's usually here at this time had to leave early. Went home at 4.30, and I can't find Miss Cheryl anywhere. There's just this one customer here, and she's acting awful suspicious. All right, Patsy, here's what you do. Stoll her along. Let her see everything in the place, but keep her there until I get there. Uh-huh. What does she look like? Oh, she's a rather large woman, dressed in a brown suit and a dark red hat with a yellowish sort of priming on it. Has a big bundle done up in wrapping paper and small bundle and a handbag. Oh, she has a large lapel pin in the form of a horse's head. I ought to recognize her from that description. I'll be there in five minutes and have a look at her. Maybe I'll know her when I see her. Right, Nick. Goodbye. Oh, I'm sorry to keep you waiting. I was trying to get some other fur pieces brought over from my warehouse. They just got some new ones in, and they're beauties. Do you like anything you've seen so far? Well, this next piece isn't bad, but I want something more expensive. Well, suppose you look around and see if you find anything you've seen too better. I think I will. You don't need to wait. I'll let you know if I find anything. Oh, that's quite all right. I have nothing else to do. Oh, nice. I'll tell you what I'd really like. When I was coming in the store this afternoon, I saw just the next piece I wanted in the left-hand main window. Do you suppose you could get it for me? Oh, I'm sorry, madam, but I'm not supposed to leave the department. But that's exactly what I want. Won't you please see if I can take a look at it? Well, as you can see, madam, there's no other girl here to watch the stock. I couldn't leave just now. But there are no other customers either. Couldn't you make an exception just this one? I'm sorry, madam. Isn't there something here that would suit you as well? You're a smart girl, aren't you? You're smart for your own good this time. But how do you mean, madam? Just this? Ah! Oh! This woman, Nicky... How does she call me, Waldo? Unless you were sure of a fact. Ah, sure, Nick. But you know where it always... Of course, at Piena Felapelle. Yes. Where do you stop her for me? That's the woman Patsy called about. You sure? I am. The description matches. Exactly. Come on. Nicky, you can't arrest her without some kind of evidence. I'm not going to arrest her, Waldo. We're going to follow her. I want to find out where she goes. Then what? Then I'll find some excuse to take a look into that bundle she's carrying. Unless I'm greatly mistaken, they're furs. Stolen furs. Under the ticket window, I never knew so many people went to the offer. Just 8.15. Half an hour before the performance starts. Why in the world? You had to get us down here so early. I can't see. Well, I had to be here to see if that woman walks through this lobby. Miss Bowen, suppose we're wrong about this? Oh, we're missing Miss Cheryl. How can we be wrong? It was right after that woman left that we found that wad of gum folded up in this envelope, didn't we? Right where she was standing when she knocked me out. And it wasn't there before. Yes, that's true. But we don't know. We know it's a ticket-broker's envelope. And cause for four seats for tonight's performance here at the offer, don't we? Yes. And it's a ticket. If we're in this envelope belong to her, she'll be here tonight. And I'll recognize it. Oh, I wish Mr. Carter were here. Oh, so do I. But I've been calling in for the past three hours and no answer. What? Even Waldo's gone. So we've got to find out for ourselves who's sitting in R2, 4, 6, and 8. I guess you're right, Miss Bowen. Oh, don't you worry. We'll work it out somehow. Oh, look at that. Gorgeous fur coat on that girl just going in. It's blue. It's blue mink. That's all blue mink. That was stolen from our store. Are you sure? Certainly I am. It's the only one in this city. There are only three of them in the world and the other. They were privately owned at the West Coast. Oh, that bouncy little girl wearing it couldn't be a third. Well, she's got her coat on. That's all I know. We've got to get inside and get back. You got your ticket? Yes. But how about... Nothing, I'm going in. Take it, please. The label, my coat. Well, prove it's ours. Oh, no, it won't. The first thing a thief does is to change the lining and the label. You've got to be sure before you accuse her. But I am sure that's the... Wait a minute. Look where she's sitting in R4. One of the seats locked on the envelope. Oh, she's a thief, but she's not the one who was in the store. We've got to wait here and see who sits in those other three seats. Then we can catch them all at once. We've been following this dance through all these little towns for a heck of a while now. Do you think she's gone anywhere? Well, either she's taking a very roundabout way to where she's going or she knows we're following her. Well, I'm going to see where she goes and it takes all night. The act is over and nobody is in those other three seats and I'm not going to wait any longer. I want that coat. Wait. She's going into the lobby. And she's leaving the coat from the seat. Let's go down and casually take it. Take it? What about her? We want her, too. Come on, follow me. I have an idea. Easy now. Now, don't hurry. Now, let's just sit down here in these end seats. I don't like this. I don't like it either, but I think it's the best way. Well, now what? We'll get up and the coat goes with us. Nobody's watching. You've got more nerve than anybody. I have a soul. Now walk up the aisle. Slowly. Well, don't hurry. Ah, that's it. Do you see that girl who had the coat? Yes. She's over there at the drink stand. If she- She won't. Come over here behind this pillar. Now, here's my idea. She must be one of the thieves, but she's not the one I want. You take the coat back to the store, and I'll wait here and follow her after the show. Maybe she'll take me to the rest of the gang. But she'll make a whale of a fuss when she finds out that her coat's gone. It's a stolen coat, isn't it? Oh, let me look at the label. Oh, this is the Paris label. There never was a blooming coat made in Paris. That's what I told you. The thieves changed the label, so it must be the coat stolen from your store. Now, you go ahead. And I'll- Oh. You want to stay healthy? Just walk quietly out to the one on the left. And don't look around. Hey, you can't- Drive walking and don't run. I'll be right behind you. Come on, Betsy. We'd better walk. Yes, I guess we better. You see that dark blue sedan at the street a little way? The tall girl gets in the front seat. The short one gets in the back. And no argument. Well, where are you taking us? You'll find out by and by. When you do, you'll want to like it. I get moving. Pause right here. More from Nick Carter, Matt. In the case of the blue mink, Patsy together with Arif Alashero, floor detective for a big department store, recovered a blue mink coat, which had been stolen from the store while Nick and Waldo were on the trail of a suspected perthete. But just as the girls got the coat back, they were forced into a strange car at the point of a gun, bound for an unknown destination. The time is now a few minutes after intermission. Sergeant Mathison of the Metropolitan Police has just arrived at the office of the opera house in answer to a spin summer. Oh, no. The coat has a beautiful blue fur coat. It is blue. Look, Mr. Helvine, I can't make heads or tails out of this. Watch this blue fur coat she keeps talking about. Well, I don't know, Sergeant. Intermission after the first act's about over. When this girl sets up a haul, you can hear three blocks away. Yeah? There as we can make out, she had a blue fur coat that disappeared. She's been practically in hysterics ever since. I thought maybe you could get the story out of it. Yeah, some job you wish on me. All right, you, what's your name? Gussie. Gussie Baumwood. All right, Gussie. What happened? I have a blue fur coat. I go outside to get a drink and when I come back, it is gone. And she will kill me. I know she will. You mean the coat was stolen? No, no, no. I do not steal it. I borrowed it to go to the opera room. No, no, no. I don't mean that. Did somebody steal it from you? Yes. They steal it. And how can I go over anymore? Did you see who took it? No. It is gone. It is gone. It is gone. I thought you'd get that view before, but I couldn't get away from across the old dame out front. What? Not anything wrong? I'll say there is. Just when intermission is about half over, I saw a man force two girls to walk out of the lobby and get into a blue sedan parked just on the block. And I could see he had a gun in his pocket. And I heard him say, when you find out where you're going, you won't like it. All right, wait a minute, wait a minute. Are you sure of this? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I'm the doorman here, you know. I was standing just outside. I heard that there's planes I can hear you now. What kind of a man was he? He was an ordinary man, like a businessman, on a pretty hard boil he was. And one of the girls had a blue fur coat with it. A blue fur coat? Did you say blue fur coat? Yeah, yeah, that's what I said, why? So two girls stole Gussie's coat and somebody stole them. Can you describe these girls? Oh, yes, sir, yes, sir. One of them was the sort of a... Yeah. I want that description of the two girls sent out to all precincts at once. Yes, sir. Let me know as soon as anyone gets a lead on them. Yes, sir. I want my coat. I want my coat. Now look here, Gussie. I brought you down here to headquarters so I could talk to your quiet life without nobody buttoning in. Now where'd you get that coat you had? Oh, please, sir. I do not feel it. I just... Oh, hello, Nick. What you got there? A bunch of fur. Probably all stolen. Patsy called me from the department store where I had planted her and told me a customer she had was acting funny. Yeah. The old one I started down to have a look at this woman and met her coming out of the store. I recognized her from Patsy's description and followed her. She led us right to the old factory building where they remodeled the stolen furs. They found a workman there, and they found him in the coach and brought them both in. Oh, nice going, Nick. You say you're on a stolen fur case yourself? Right, Nick. One with a twist to it. What's the twist? Well, it seems that Gussie wore this blue fur to the opera and a couple of girls stole it from her. And some fellow the dormant says was hanging around before, pulls a gun on the two names and forces them into his car, looked as if he was waiting for them. Any descriptions of the man? Sure, girls. Yeah, the dormant at the opera saw the whole thing. One of the girls is about 45, short, kind of blonde gray hair, blue eyes, wore a dark blue suit with a... Now, it's Cheryl. You know her, Nick? But the description of the other girl fit Patsy? Probably George. I believe it worded it. You think it wasn't it? Heavens. Patsy and Miss Cheryl applauded detective at the store, doing a little detecting on their own. That really may be in trouble, real trouble. I remember now. Miss Cheryl told me a blue mink coat was stolen from the store a couple of weeks ago. Somehow they got on the trail of it, and someone got on their trail. Now, we've got to find out about this in a hurry. Gussie, whose coat was it? Though I got to tell you, she'd kill me, sure. You certainly do got to tell me, and quick. It was the lady I worked for. She always gets new fur coats all the time. So I just took this one to go to the opera with. Anybody home when you left? There was a little girl, Virginia. She, maybe, she could see me. Did you know where her father and mother were tonight? Well, I guess her mother left her the telephone number. It was in Oakdale. Hey, Mary, let me have that phone, will you? Yeah, what are you going to do, Nick? To find out if it's Virginia called her mother to tell her Gussie had taken a coat. And what Gussie says is very likely she did. I thought we saw Gussie go out with a coat. Yeah, but Nick, I... Hey, wait a minute, wait a minute. Operator, this is Nick Carrick. I want to find out if a call was made tonight from the Dutton residence in Cedar Ridge to someplace in Oakdale. Yes, that's right. For the love of Pete, Nick, this kid and a guy kidnapping Patsy. Look, Mary, Gussie said Mrs. Dutton was always getting new fur coats, didn't she? Yeah. Well, that looks like part of the fur gang. So if this kid phoned her mother that Gussie was wearing her new fur coat, her father, who was probably the head of the gang, drove into town as fast as he could to get it back before it was spotted as a stolen coat. Why, sure. Got to the opera house after the show started so he hung around. That was what the dormant saw him. Yeah. He probably missed Gussie in the crowded intermission but saw Patsy and Miss Cheryl. So he took them and the coat, which is what he really wanted. Well, for the love of... Wait, wait, wait. What's that operator? Oh, there was. About 7.15, huh? Thank you. That's all. Dutton got the call around 7.15. He could have driven down in about an hour and a half. We should get him to the opera house after the show started. Ah, that chicks. Yeah, but look, Nick, if Dutton has got the girls, he certainly wouldn't take them to his home. And where would he take them? And what would he do with them? Mary, that's what we've got to figure out. And fast. What a dirty old place this is. It was going to lock us up somewhere. He might have picked a plazender place than this. If we only knew where we were, maybe we could figure out some scheme to let somebody know. If we could only... Oh, here he comes back. Oh, I hope it's not... We weren't alone in this, huh? What do you mean? Tell somebody else about the coat, did you? Well, no, we didn't. Oh, yes. Yes, we did. Right after we found it. And who'd you tell? Speak up. I, uh... I called Nick Carter and gave him all the details. Yeah, he caught so. Somebody's been here and taken all the furs and working the storage vault in the basement. Get my tailor away, too. Just call his home and they haven't seen him. Don't know what's happened to him. What did you tell this Carter? And no funny business. Oh, well, uh... You see, we told him... Listen, you, stop stalling. If you want a little while longer, give us the details and make it snappy. Well, the girl who had the coat at the opera did us your names. And when I called him, I told him your names and where you live. Oh, where do I get my hands on that gussie I'll ring her neck like I was a chicken, steal her my coat and blab and everything she knows? Well, what do we do now, Eddie? Well, let me think. Yeah, I have it. Young lady, you're gonna call your Nick Carter on the phone. There's an old abandoned hunting shack out in the woods about two miles off Route 47. You're gonna tell him you've caught the fur thief and that you're stuck on her without any facts. While Nick is conferring with Mattie at headquarters, Waldo sits in Nick's office waiting for the next development in the case. Nick got his office. Nick got his first assistant to Waldo McGlynn speaking. Is Nick there to Waldo? This is Patsy. Oh, no, Patsy. He ate. Can I help you? Put him on, will you? I tell you, Nick ate here. Do you want me to... Hello, Nick. Oh, I'm so glad you're there. This ain't Nick. This is... Yes, Nick, it's all right. We've caught the fur thieves we were after. But this ain't Nick, Patsy. This is... Listen carefully. Very carefully. This is extremely important. You must be crazy, but I'm listening. We chased the thieves way out of town in Miss Cheryl's car. And just as we finally caught up with them, we ran out of gas. Nick, I want you to come out and bring us all back to town. I don't dare leave the thieves to look for any gas because they might get away. But we caught them thieves ourselves. Now, get these directions straight, Nick. Better write them down. Write them down. Now, we're near an old hunting shack on a small side road that turns off Route 47 about three miles north of Woodmere. Three miles north of Woodmere. You got that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. The shack is about two miles in off the main road. We'll be waiting for you inside the shack. Hurry up, will you, Nick? It's awful lonely out here. You bet it'll hurry. He's awful worried about you, Patsy. Yes, about two... I guess this to Nick immediate here. Hallelujah. We caught the crooks. That ain't the silliest thing I ever... Sergeant Matherson. Oh, this is Waldo. He's Nick there. Yeah, sure. Hold on. If you're Nick, it's Waldo. Nick, I just got the dog-gondest message from Patsy. Now, Patsy, where is she? Now, keep your shirt on while I tell you this. She kept calling me Nick. I told her it was Waldo. Yes, yes, yes, Waldo. What did she say? She said she got the thieves and ran off a gas in an old hunting shack. About two miles out on a small road that turned off Route 47 about three miles above Woodmere. She's waiting there for you. Did she say anything else? No, that's all right. Do you know how she ended up? Well, naturally not. What was it? She says, hallelujah. We caught the crooks. Hallelujah. You sure? Sure, I'm sure. I eat beef, you know. Thanks, Waldo. Goodbye. Grab your hat and your gun, Maddie. We're going places. Frame up, Nick. Of course I am, Maddie. I told you when Patsy wants me to know she's in trouble. She uses the word hallelujah somewhere in the conversation. We set that up years ago. Probably the guy who kidnapped her maters sent the message, huh? Exactly. He thinks he set a trap for us and that we'll walk into it. Well, we'll string the trap on him instead. You changed your plan? No. Well, if the cars stop outside the shack, when they start walking in, I'll trick them off. They won't have a chance up with this moon. Oh, won't you please? I can't see me and I can see them for a minute. Oh, yes, Nick. He was going to kill us after he shot you. Hey, you shut up. Shut up, will you? How about the guy, Nick? Looks pretty bad, Maddie. Why do you live to pay that penalty? I'm happy to say. I finished talking to you, or rather to Waldo. He took us to that shack to wait. Oh, Nick, I was scared. She certainly was, Mr. Carla, but not so much on her own account. She was afraid that you might kill her. I was afraid somebody might get hurt, maybe killed, and I didn't want it to be, uh, the wrong person. Well, that's highly commendable of you. Oh, just think. If Guffey hadn't borrowed the Blooming Pepsi and I might not be here. Oh, please. That's not exactly a cheerful thought. That's it. There's one thing I still don't understand. When you two found that ticket broker's envelope with the seats marked on it, why didn't you go to the police instead of trying to handle it yourselves? Well, well, to tell the truth, Nick, I just didn't think of it. I suppose it's because, well, as a rule, we don't go to the police for help. They usually come to us. This detective, produced and directed by John McGregor, is a copyrighted feature by Screed and Smith Publications Incorporated. Long Clark is starred as Nick, with Charlotte Manson featured as Patsy. Mattie is played by Ed Latimer, Waldo by Humphrey Davis. Script written by John McGregor, storyline by Peggy Mayer. This is Bob Martin saying, Use all that's cleanser.