 This is C.F.C. X, written as Curtain of the Mystery Playhouse. Tonight we're visiting the Inner Sanctum for a story by your host, Raymond. Open the door and tell us about it, Mr. Holt. Good evening, gentle friends of the Inner Sanctum. Welcome through the creaking door for another soothing half-hour of sweetness and life. Oh, I've learned a new trick. Would one of you like to step up here and be soared in half? Well, no volunteer. Well, maybe you're right. The first part, the soaring in half, that's easy. But the second part, the putting together again, I'm still not very good at that. Ah. What does a man think of when there's murder in the air? A close presence of death. Does it have matter and substance? Does it generate unseen light waves that touch a man's subconscious or unheard sound waves that speak to him when he asleep? Well, let's listen to I Walk in the Night written by Amel Tepperman with Larry Haynes, the role of Peter Lang, to tell you the story himself. I don't know if it was the ringing of a doorbell that awoke me. It dragged me back to consciousness out of a deep, heavy sleep. I felt groggy. As if I'd been drugged, my eyes were so heavy. It's so hard to keep open. That infernal ringing, I stumbled out into the hall. My wife, their opposite Maya. I knew the door would be locked. We'd quarreled last night while the judges were visiting from the house next door. My wife made a scene. She went to a room and locked herself in. Please, please wake up in there. As I stumbled down the hall of the front door, I recognized Phil Jetson's voice. So, and Henrietta lived in the house next door just across the lawn. All right. All right, I'm coming. Just a minute. I can't get this open. There. Oh, thank heaven you woke up, Peter. I thought you'd never hear me. What's wrong, Phil? What's that poker for? Henrietta saw a prowler come out of this house. A prowler? What matter with you, Pete? You look groggy. Wake up. I don't know. I feel as if I've been doped. What's this about prowler? Henrietta saw him climbing out of Myrna's window. She yelled at me and I grabbed the poker and came running out. The poker? What's the matter with you? Didn't you hear me? A man was in Myrna's room just now. Great Scott. I mean, there's a lawn in there. Come on. All right, open the door. She doesn't answer. Phil, are you sure the prowler came out of this room? Yes. He ran around the house and got away. Look, Pete, have you got a key to this door? No, it's bolted on the inside. We've got to break it down. Come on. Put your shoulder to it. What's going on? Where's the light switch? Oh, here. I've got it. Better not come in, Pete. Oh, let me in. I've got to see. Very good. Take it easy, Pete. Oh, very good. Strangled to death. Very good. Put it in black and blue, but I've got to throw it. This chain on her neck is broken. What is that locket? The one I gave her last Christmas. The killer must have taken it with him. And see here, her fingernails, her bits of skin under them. She must have struggled and scratched the killer's face or hands. Why so? Why should anyone want to kill her? Then began the long torture of the investigation, detectives swarming over the house. Man and derby hats examining the body of my wife, measuring the room, searching for fingerprints. And finally, more men who came and carried her away forever. Throw it off so when Henrietta sat with me, trying to give her comfort. Oh, Peter dear, please talk to us. I can't stand seeing you sit there with your head in your hand. It won't bring Werner back to life. Henrietta's right, Pete. You've got to get a hold of yourself. I know. I know what it is. Can't stop thinking about it. Those locks and the throat. The torn chain, the locket, gone. Look here, Pete. There's something we have to talk about. Now, get that dazed look off your face and listen to me for a minute. There's a police inspector in Werner's room right now. O'Brien is his name. He'll be coming in soon to question you. Now, you'd better not tell him about the quarrel you had with Werner last night. I don't get you. It would look bad for you. For me? Oh, well, what do you mean? Phil, you don't say that I... Suddenly I caught my breath. My right hand in my bathroom pocket touched something cold. Phil and Henrietta both stared at me. Peter. What's wrong? Phil. Phil, look what I found in my pocket. What is it? Look. A locket. It's Werner's locket. The one that was going for my throat. Phil. Phil, how could this get in my pocket? Yeah, give me that quick. What's wrong? Give it to me. Pleasure. Werner's locket, all right. You recognize it, Henrietta? Yes. What are you going to do with it, Phil? Get rid of it quick. Out this open window. If the police find it out there, they'll think the killer dropped it. This fellow is in my pocket. Well, what are you looking at, Phil? Your hand, Pete. What? Your left hand. I looked down at my left hand. There on my list. What's been wrong? The ashes. My left skin has been scraped. This is by the fingernails of a woman hiding for a life. Do you think I could have killed it? Not. I don't believe it. You could never do a thing like that, Pete. Couldn't I? How can you be sure? How can I be sure? Peter, please. Don't talk like that. You're making yourself out of some terrible monster, but you aren't. Phil and I know you can't be like that. I don't know. Maybe I got up in my sleep and killed Mano without ever knowing it consciously. After all, I did have that quarrel with her last night. Cut it, Pete. Here comes O'Brien, the detective. I hope I'm not intruding. Oh, no. It's all right, Inspector. Come in, O'Brien. The lying is very upset. The shock. I just don't understand. Believe me, Mr. Lying had my debut sympathy. I wouldn't bother you at all at a time like this. Inspector O'Brien was a paint-cheeked, chub-faced, chubby little man. But his eyes were cold and blue and restless. He kept jumping from Phil to Henrietta to me as he fired his questionnaires. Mr. Lying, one more thing. I understand you had a small party here last night. Oh, no, no. It wasn't a party. Just Phil and Henrietta and Ted Hale. Ted Hale? Yes, my name is Ted Hale. Oh, I see. Uh, this is Ted Hale, the cousin of your wife. Pardon me, Inspector. Yes, Mr. Hale. Peter is too easygoing and good-natured to tell you about Ted Hale. But Peter's attorney, it's my duty to give you certain information. Ah, go ahead. My name is Mrs. Lying, owned a considerable property in her own right. Recently, I drew a will at her request. In it, she leaves a sizable sum to Ted Hale. Oh, I just thought of something. What is it, Henrietta? Well, Peter was so groggy when he woke up. That's right. He looked as if he'd been drugged. Well, don't you remember last night? Ted Hale went in the kitchen to mix the last round of drinks. Oh, Henrietta, that's ridiculous. On the contrary, it's quite important. Now, tell me, this Ted Hale, what does he do for a living? He works for me and my broker, Joe. Please, Myrna, I gave him a job as my confidential secretary. I suppose you tell me where Mr. Ted Hale lives. I think I'll have a talk with him. Now, all you have to do, Pete, is sit tight. Let O'Brien follow up his lead. Until I can't let him arrest Ted Hale, he didn't kill Myrna. I did. I must have the lock. He scratches. It's not fair to Ted. As your attorney, I won't let you strap yourself in the electric chair. You go back to your room and get some sleep. Henrietta, do you mind going back to our house by yourself? Of course not. I'm going to sleep right here in the living room on Miss Couch. In case Peter needs me tonight. For my bed in the dark, I kept seeing a thousand pictures. Myrna, her face modeled with strangulation. Phil, always so sure of himself. Henrietta, worried and frightened. And O'Brien, his face grim and his blue eyes cold. Going off to question Ted Hale. I must have been close to dozing off when I heard the doorbell faintly. It was just in a dream. I tossed about in bed for a moment or two. And then I heard the voices in the living room. Phil's cold and harsh. And someone else is loud and angry and frightened. I got out of bed and opened the door. I went down the hall to my living room. I had to know who was in there arguing with Phil. It was Ted Hale. Ted, what are you doing here? Phil phoned me. He told me about Myrna. I called him up. Called him up. O'Brien will be coming for him. I suggested he come over here and talk it over with me. Pete, don't let them arrest me. You've got to help me. Help you? You know I didn't kill Myrna. Well, I'm not sure. Pete, what? I was here last night, you know. And you had that fight with Myrna? What do you mean? If I'm arrested, I'll tell the police about that call. Phil says I had a motive. But what about you, Pete? You were always quarreling with Myrna. Now look here, Ted. If you're threatening me. I only want you to help me, Pete. Don't let them arrest me. Hide me. Hide me out until this blows over or until they get the real killer. I think Ted is right, Pete. We should help them. But where? I'll handle it. You have a dark room fixed up in the cellar, haven't you? Yes. We'll stick a card in there and let Ted hold up for the day or two. Nobody will think of looking for him in this house. Now listen to me carefully, Peter. If Ted Hale is arrested and talks, or Brian will learn about the quarrel you had with Myrna last night, he'll start digging into things that won't look so good for him. No. Phil, wait. I know you're trying to help me, but if I did it, if I did kill Myrna, then he was trying to protect me. It isn't right. I'm a dangerous man. Man, that'll stick. But you can't brush it off like that. So, do you know what it means to lie awake the night wondering whether you've killed your own wife, wondering whom I'll kill next? Cut that out. We've got business to attend to. Now, here's my plan. We'll let Ted stay here tomorrow. And then tomorrow night, I'll smuggle him out of the country, get him passage on a freighter to South America. You think he'll go? Sure, he'll go. He's scared stiff, but we'll need money. Lots of money. Now, how much have you got in the safe at the office? So about ten thousand cash, but there's a batch of negotiable bonds. They'll do. I'll get down to the office the first thing in the morning and get them out of the safe. Oh, you have a combination? Yes, you gave it to me when you gave me your power of attorney, remember? Oh, yeah. Now, don't you worry about a thing. Oh, um, here. Take this powder. Hmm? It's just one of the bromides that Henrietta uses will help you get to sleep. By tomorrow morning, everything will be fixed up. Fine. It was almost dawn when Phil left. And it was to be hours later, close to noontime when I thought myself being roughly shaken out of a heavy, troubled party. Pete, Pete, wake up. Uh, what? Hey, wake up. Come on, snap out of it. Son. Oh. Oh, God, yeah. I feel groggy. Well, what's in that powder you gave me? Never mind the powder. Get your eyes open. I've got something to tell you. Oh, it's all right. What happened? Listen to me carefully, Pete. I went down to the office before business hours this morning and opened the safe to get the money out. Okay. The safe is empty. And the securities are gone. But they can't be. Who else had the combination besides you and me? Only Ted Hale. Oh. Do you think that I'll bet you a dollar to a donut he's gone? Come on, let's check. Look, Pete, there's a light in the dark room. You must have gone up early and beat me to it for the safe. Ted. Ted, you in there? Always the optimist, huh? Come on, open it up. Ted. Good heavens. Ted Hale hadn't gone anywhere. He was lying there on a kite. His head was a bloody pulp. It had been bashed in while he slept with a long-handled cold shovel which lay there alongside the kite. Great Scott. He's been murdered. We stood there in a narrow dark room till our nine we looked at each other. There was a strange gleam in Fozai's eyes. I tried to read the meaning of that gleam, but he averted his eyes too quickly. He dropped his gaze to my hands. I saw what he was looking at. My hands were black and grimy with cold dust. And on a briny, cold blackened handle of a shovel was the first set of fingerprints. Phil, did I kill him? Did I kill him in my sleep? The same as murder? Phil, I can't stand it. No matter where I'm going to get myself up. You'll do nothing of a kind. If you did it, Pete, you're not responsible. You do think I did it. And murder too? I don't know. I don't know what to say. Just think, Phil, maybe tonight I might kill you or Henrietta. There's no telling what I might do. No, no, Phil. It's hard to believe, but there's the proof. I'm a murderer. I'm dangerous. There's only one thing to do. I won't let you do it. Both of us left. Come on. I'm going to help you hide Ted's body. How much further, Phil? Oh, there it is. There's the bridge up ahead. Okay. Here, help me with it. We had the body of Ted Hale in a sack with a pair of hundred-pound dumbbells to lay it down. Miss Funo took place the next morning and I had to endure the condolences of friends and business associates. But Phil and Henrietta stood by me all. It'll be over, Phil and Pete. Then you can rest. Keep your chin up. I'll get rid of the stragglers. Look. Look who just came in. Oh, that's Mr. O'Brien. What does he want, Phil? Take it easy, take it easy. Let me do the talking. I came to pay my respects, Mr. Lang. Oh, thank you, Inspector. No trace of Ted Hale, is it? I'm afraid not, Mr. Judson. He'll call me in the city for him, but I'm afraid he's got to clean away. It's marvelous to see how calmly Phil could talk to O'Brien about Ted Hale. Knowing all the time just where the body was, under that bridge, I glanced at him here. She was watching Phil, too. You know what I think, Mr. Judson? I think Ted Hale will never be caught. I have a very funny feeling that he's dead. Later that afternoon, I took a taxi cab and went down to police headquarters and asked to see Inspector O'Brien. Oh, glad to see you, Mr. Lang. You're looking a little better this afternoon. I feel better, Inspector. I feel better because I've come to an important decision. Oh, yeah? Inspector, I decided to tell you something. That'll start on you. That's pretty hard to start on old hand in my business. Go ahead, I'm working. All right, Inspector. Ted Hale didn't kill murder. I killed it. That is, I think I killed it. You think you killed it? Don't you know? Sounds crazy, doesn't it? But I assure you, it won't perfectly say. Justice, you either killed it or you didn't kill it. If you kill somebody, you know it. No, not in this case, Inspector. You see, I think I did it in my sleep. Both times. And Ted Hale, too. Hold on now. I'll get someone to take notes. I suppose you start in the beginning. I told him the whole story. I felt it awaken me. We found murder strangled. A groggy drug-feeling I'd had. Ted Hale had tried to blackmail me. And I felt it awaken me once more and we'd gone down to the cellar. It found Ted with his head bashed in. I talked to him. I'm glad you came to see me, Mr. Langer. Glad you told me all this. Look, I've had a hard time reaching a decision to come here. Yes. It was hard to speak to him. It all wanted me to go away. It would have been so easy to go away and let him take care of things. But I'd never be able to sleep if you had killed someone else. Well, you needn't worry, Mr. Langer. There won't be any more killings. It's not if I'm safely in jail. You're not going to jail. We're going home. What? Your sister's stenography is taken, Mr. Langer. I've almost enough material to convict the real murder. I need just one more thing. You go home and wait. Don't worry. You mean I didn't kill murder, Ted? You just go along home and take it easy. I'm back at home now. It's too early since I left O'Brien's office and I've taken the time to write down this full account. Just as I gave it to this stenographer. As I write now, I can look across the lawn to fill Judson's house. Five minutes ago, I saw Inspector O'Brien and two detectives going there. The front door is opening now. I can see them coming out. O'Brien first, then the two detectives with a cell between them. They've got a handcuffed cell. Here comes Henrietta. She's running across the lawn, coming here. Peter. Coming, Henrietta. Peter, they've taken Phil away. Yes, I saw it all from the window. Oh, darling. Everything went right. Exactly as we planned it. Hold me tight, Peter. Tight. We can be together now. Forever and ever. I know. And you were clever, Peter. So clever. The hardest part was getting Phil to cooperate. But I knew he'd do anything. Friend, what a fool he is. He stepped right in and took over. You should have seen O'Brien when I told him the story. I can tell exactly what he was thinking. Here's the poor innocent chap who said friend is framing him. Giving him drugs and then making him think he commits murder. We can all think that. As soon as he's convicted, I'll be free. And we can go away together. All right. But you'll have to cancel that trip. Both of you. O'Brien. You... You heard... what we said? Sure did, every word. Remember at my office, Mr. Lang, when I told you I only needed one more thing to clinch the case against the murderer? Well, this was it. I faked the arrest of Mr. Judson. Then I sneaked back to see what you'd do about it. You did plenty. And with that familiar sound, we ring down the kitchen of Inner Sanctum. I walk in the night. The night must replay our presentation. A face once again that is PSVX saying... Good night. Good night. This is the armed forces with your equipment.