 From Hollywood, it's time now for Bob Bailey as... Johnny Duller. Hi, Johnny. Dan McKay, Harbor Police. Dan, I was planning to drop by and see you about the sinking of the Mali-K, but I've been pretty busy since I got here. Yeah, so I've heard. Johnny, you're under arrest. What did I do? Parking a red zone, walking the grass? I'm not kidding. I mean it. Oh, it's a charge. Let's see. Salt and battery, aggravated assault. Hold it, Dan. That's enough. But you want to know who signed it? I already know. That's practically an admission of guilt. You know that. But I've got witnesses. So is he. Huh? I think you'd better come down and talk about it. Or you'll send out the wagon, is that it? I'm serious, Johnny. All right, Dan. I'll be down. Tonight and every weekday night, Bob Bailey and the transcribed adventures of the man with the action-packed expense account. America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator... Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. From Special Investigator Johnny Dollar, location San Francisco, to the Home Office Marine and Maritime Casually Limited, Hartford, Connecticut. Assignment, the Molly K matter. Expense account continued. Item 7, a mere 60 cents. Taxi from my hotel to the foot of Market Street and headquarters of Inspector Dan McKay in charge of Harvard Police. I'd known Dan for years. Well enough to realize that knowing him wouldn't make any difference. Not when he had a warrant to serve. I knew the charge wouldn't stick, of course, but it could slow me down. And I figured that was exactly why it had been filed. You may be right, Johnny. Maybe Captain Brawley did file charges just for nuisance value. Keep you out of his way for a day or two. That's exactly what he did. Nevertheless, the charge was filed and a warrant has been issued. So what are you going to do about it? I know what I'd like to do about it. Uh-uh. That's against the law, too. You know, you could be wrong, Johnny. But Brawley may not be guilty of the Molly case-sinking. I told you the whole story, Dan. The facts add up. What do you think? I think you've got an awful strong case, but it's still based on circumstantial evidence. Well, what else is there to base it on? The rest of the evidence is out past the harbor there, out beyond the Golden Gate, a mile below the surface of the Pacific. Yeah, yeah, I know. Most of the cases we handle here in the Harvard Division are like that. Well, then you can see the problem I'm up against. Yeah, I can see it all right. That's a big harbor out there, Johnny. The biggest natural harbor in the world. A lot of square miles of water. A lot of miles of shoreline. And a lot of ways of covering up a crime. As far as disposing of physical evidence, it's true. A body can be thrown into the bay. A weapon, so on. Sometimes we recover it, sometimes we don't. It's tough, Johnny. Yeah, I imagine. Real tough. Hey, that's the SS Maritonia, arriving from Ceylon, Java, the Philippines. She'll dock at Pier 14. The cargo is probably spices, mahogany, raw ore. Nice looking ship. Beautiful. They drive me crazy, Johnny, watching them here from the window. I should have gone to sea. Oh, well. Anyway, since we don't have physical evidence in a lot of cases, we've learned to rely on other things. Such as? The human elements, Johnny. You've turned up a lot of facts, true. You've made a good deal more progress on this case than I have. Than you have? What do you mean? Tim O'Rourke sent me the report of the inquiry board. I've been working on the case ever since. Now, you've got a pretty convincing bunch of facts. But I know Captain Brawley. By reputation, at least. Look, Dan, I know what you're getting at. People who know Brawley think he's honest. O'Rourke said the same thing. Right. Tough, hard, violent temper, a slave driver, but not a crook. An honest man can get under pressure sometimes, get pushed beyond his depth. It happens every day. Yeah, yeah. But, Johnny, even then, he reacts according to his pattern. Here's what I'm getting at. That murder on board the Molly Kay just before she sank, you said Hawkins told you the man had been knifed. Now, I can see Brawley slugging somebody with fist, club, or bottle, or even shooting a man. But not a knife. It's not in his nature. That's what I mean by human elements. And you're right, Dan. I agree with you. I don't think it was Brawley who killed him. Here's the way I see it. Brawley was pressed for cash. The mortgage on his ship was due in 30 days. He was carrying that grain for Dean Sutton on a contingency basis. He might not make any money, or at least not enough. He was probably doing it as a favor to his daughter. She and Dean Sutton are engaged. For the first time out, he tried setting that fire on board. It didn't work. One of the crew, Bill Mack, discovered it before it got started. The Molly Kay returned to Port and Brawley filed an insurance claim. Then he got scared off in an investigation and withdrew it. That's all guesswork, Johnny. So far, his second attempt, he contacted an expert on explosives, Benny Wong, and Benny pulled off the job for a blew the bottom out of the ship and sank it. And what about the knifing? Well, Bill Mack was suspicious. Prowing around the hold and caught Benny in the act of setting the explosive. Benny killed him, figuring the sinking would cover for him. But by accident, Hawkins stumbled onto the body before the ship went down. Well, that adds up, Johnny. It's hard to argue with. I just can't see a captain sinking his own ship. It's been done before. Yeah, I know. Not everybody feels about them the way you do, Dan. And a half million is a lot of money. That's true. But 25 years of command means a lot too. Deep sense of responsibility. Integrity. Specter McKay. Well, yeah. Just a moment. It's for you, Johnny. It was Lu Tang, Shanghai Lu. She'd called the hotel and found out where to reach me. For once, she didn't try to play games. She spoke briefly and straight to the point. And she told me what I wanted to know the most. When I hung up, I knew I was on the last lap. I had the case right in my hand. Well, what's up, Johnny? What is it? Dan, how would you like to come along and talk to the man who blew up the Molly K? Item eight, 80 cents. Another taxi. A short run from the foot of market to Fisherman's Wharf. Lu Tang's spies had told her Benny Wong was holed up in a back room of the Faw Song fish company out on the docks. And they said he was scared, armed, and dangerous. There's the Faw Song layout, Johnny. Right there, the warehouse in the end. Yeah. Well, let's go around the gangway. Lu Tang said the room is on the back corner. Say, Johnny, uh, why don't you wait here? Let me take him. This kind of thing is part of my job. But he's my pigeon, Dan. I found him first. There's a door at the back. That must be it. Yeah, only when it could be. Besides, I'm under arrest. If you left me alone, I might escape. Yeah, yeah, sure. You got a gun, John? Yeah. All right. Let's go. We move quietly up to the blank wooden door opening onto the gangway over the water. There were no windows in the back wall, so we were certainly weren't being watched from inside. We stop to the door and McKay reach for the knob and try to gently. It's unlocked. Good. You ready? Yeah, go ahead. Pull it, police officers! Drop that gun! Drop it fast! This doesn't look much like Benny Wong, Johnny. Oh, it doesn't. Now, look here. What do you do, Dean? Go around with a gun in your hand all the time? You're making a mistake, dollar. I don't know any more about this than you do. Any more about what? What are you doing here, Dean? Never mind, Johnny. Here's what he means. Huh? So we don't talk to Benny? Shot three times. Yeah. Any one of the bullets would have done the job. You weren't taking any chances, were you, Dean? I didn't shoot him. I just got here. How did you know where he was hiding? I didn't. I didn't know anything about him. I got a phone call. Somebody said to meet them here. He said they gave me the lowdown in the singing of the Molly Kay. What somebody? Who was it? I don't know. Man or woman? Uh, man, I think. The voice was muffled, so I came here to meet them. And we find you standing over a dead man with a gun in your hand. I found him like that. I figured it was a trap. But I don't know anything about him. Oh, no, of course you don't. You're just a babe in the woods. Johnny, barking up a wrong tree. What do you mean? This man's been dead for several hours. Since early morning, I'd say. And he was shot with a .45. This gun of Sutton is a .32. So that's that. Johnny, what was the caliber of the gun you saw Captain Brawley wearing? A .45, Dan. I'll put out a bullet and then we'll pick him up. Wind up. The vets were all in. There was nothing more ahead but the showdown. Dan tore up the warrant on me, of course, and I went back to my hotel room to wait it out. That seemed the safest place to be. Brawley would be desperate now, half out of his mind. And of all the people he hated most, I was number one. So I lay back on my bed and waited. I reached my gun from the lamp table, moved quietly over to the door and took hold of the key. Oh, is it? Let me in, Johnny. Ellen, just a second. Come on in. Has he been here, Johnny? Yes, who been here? My father. The last time I saw the Captain, he was lying unconscious on a bar on floor. I just put him there. That was last night. Yes, I know. What made you think he'd be here? I don't know. I guess I thought... I don't know what I thought. Oh, easy now. I'm scared, Johnny. Hold me. Please. I'm so lonely and scared. It's all right, Ellen. Easy now. He came home last night after he fought with you. He was furious. Then he left again and I haven't seen him since. Does he have his gun with him? I guess so. I don't know what. I don't know anything. Help me, Johnny, won't you? Of course I will. Hold me tight. Kiss me. Last night, when you kissed me, I wasn't scared then. I was lonely. Hold me, Johnny. Wait a second. Johnny Dollar. Dan McKay, Johnny. Yeah, Dan. We know. What's he say? Denies everything. Says he was home asleep all night. Says his daughter will back him up. Uh-uh. I happen to know different on that. Yeah, I figured he was lying. We'd already been out to his house, found his gun. He's been fired three times, Johnny, and the bullets match. When Ellen Brawley left my room a while later, I still hadn't told her about her father's arrest. I didn't have the heart. She'd tried her best to protect him, cover for him. She'd have done anything to save him. And yet, the irony was that every move she'd made helped tighten the case against him. The scent of her perfume still hung in the air after she'd gone. It was a strange scent, subtle, disturbing. I began to feel uncomfortable on edge. There was something familiar about that scent. And finally I tagged it. I'd noticed that same perfume in the room on the wharf where Benny Wong lay murdered. Oh, here's our star, Bob Bailey, to tell you about tomorrow's episode of this story. Thanks. Tomorrow night at Deadly Rendezvous on the fog-shrouded waterfront and an explosion that rocked the city. The payoff. Jonas, won't you? Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar, is transcribed in Hollywood. Written by Les Crutchfield, the entire production is under the direction of Jack Johnstone. Be sure to join us tomorrow night, same time and station, for the next exciting episode of Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Roy Rowan speaking.