 Money dollar. Yeah. What? Who's that? Smokey. Smokey. Smokey, son of a... Yeah. Holy... Do you always call people at 5.30 in the morning? Oh, hiya, Smokey. How are things down in New York? I'm living out here in Frisco now. Oh? You know about the big fire out here? Now, Smokey, don't tell me you've been up to your old tricks. You know I wouldn't do nothing like that, Johnny, after the good way you've been treating me. Well, I hope not. But what about this fire? It's a big warehouse. They're in San Francisco. The body? Arson? Yeah. I know who did it. There must be insurance in a big warehouse. Yeah. So as soon as I can check it out, I'll... Look, where do I find you? Where do you stay, Johnny? Uh, let's see, at the Honeydon Hotel up on Mount Hill. In a place like that? Oh, unless I know where to call you. So do you. And you're sure it's Arson? I'm sure. And I'll see you. The exciting adventures of the man with the action-packed expensive car. America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator. Oh, it's truly... Johnny Duller. A handcuffed thief makes a desperate bid to escape a frantic dope addict. Crashes through a fiberboard wall at the police station house. It's part of the daily routine in New York's 16th police precinct, Hell's Kitchen. In the new issue of Look Magazine, you'll follow tough, dedicated cops as they track down the man who pulled the trigger, run down a burglar, subdue a drug addict. And you'll learn it, Look, the kind of guy it takes to make a detective. What he thinks about his job. What he thinks about the kinds of people he has to deal with. It's all here in Look's exciting picture story, Detectives at Work. An uphill fight in a tough city where the crime rate has risen almost 10% in the last year, where 40% of the nation's drug addicts fight, steal or beg for a fix, where an entire neighborhood suddenly becomes silent when the police department tries to track the man behind the gun. You'll see it all in Look Magazine's dramatic picture story, Detectives at Work. It's in the latest issue of Look. And it's on your newsstands now. Get your copy of Look today. Accounts submitted by Special Investigator Johnny Dollar to the Greater Southwest Insurance Company's San Francisco office. Following us an account of expenses incurred during my investigation of the Frisco fire matter. First of all, I had to make sure my expenses to the West Coast wouldn't have to come out of my own pocket. So, expensive account item 110 cents for a call that got Pat McFragon of Universal Adjustment Bureau out of his bed. I asked him to dig up some facts and figures for me in a hurry. Within 20 minutes, he called me back. Johnny Dollar. Well, Johnny, I've been on the phone tonight. About the big fire. Yeah. How did you find out about it? Well, never mind that, Pat. Just keep talking. It's an operator by Mr. Peter H. Barnwell. And he has an office at 1427 Comac Street. 1427 Comac. Got it. And the insurance. $340,000. Wow. Carried by Greater Southwest Insurance Company. Pat, if I hurry, I can just make plane connections. No, wait a minute, Johnny. Thanks, Pat. Thanks a lot. Item 2, 201-88 Plainfair, Hartford to New York to San Francisco. And believe me, those jet flights on American get you there in a hurry. I left New York at 8 AM and pulled into San Francisco before noon. Pacific time, of course. Item 3 is time for newspaper at the airport. Apparently, the fire had burned itself out. Item 4, 675, taxi to Peter H. Barnwell's office on Comac Street. The reception room was jammed. No. No, there's no point in sending anybody over here because he won't see them. Now. Listen, Chick, I'll get your tickets for any show in town. No. I tell you, he won't see any of you. Not even me? No. Now, why don't you record us? Just go back to your papers and wait until Mr. Barnwell's ready to talk to you. My card, miss. It's no use, miss. Will you read it, please? But he doesn't want to see any reporters, right? Oh. Just a minute, Mr. Dahler. How do you rate that, buddy? What paper are you from? The Bigville Bugle. That's out near Bum Spong, oh, go on. Now look, wise guy. Look. Mr. Dahler. Mr. Dahler. Dahler. Will you come in, please, Mr. Dahler? Sure. Now wait a minute. Two Johnny Dahler, the insurance is right in here, sir. Thanks. Hey, wait a minute. Sit down, Mr. Dahler. Make yourself at home. Well, I must say you weren't at all upset about the loss of your warehouse. Should I be? Sit down. Sure. Mr. Dahler, that building's been a losing proposition for years because of its bad location, because of zoning restrictions, and the cost of tearing it down. And then nothing but lose money on it. But I've been very careful to keep up the insurance. So now that it's gone up in flames, I shall let long last collect on it. $340,000. That's right. And with whatever I can get from some of the misguided investors of the land itself, I'll be sitting pretty. I see. Now don't get any funny ideas, Mr. Investigator. The police have found nothing whatsoever to suggest arson. Nor will they. You sound pretty sure of that. I'm sure of it. Even if it were a job that you didn't have done. I'm sure of it. You know something, Mr. Barnwell? I'm not. So if you could be of any help in putting through my clue. Did you hear what I said? I heard, Mr. Dahler. Doesn't worry me a bit. Car filter made me worth $1,000. How's that? Heard over the radio that the people who make fram filters have a big treasure hunt on. So I checked my oil and air filter. And I'll be dog-gone if there wasn't a specially marked fram air filter that might pay me $1,000. No kidding. My service station man said whatever I win, he'll win the same amount. Told me a regular filter check is important to today's cars. So important that Fram Corporation is paying $60,000 to get car owners to check their filters now. Cash money? Sure. This is Fram Silver Anniversary. Last year, 10,000 secretly numbered fram filters were distributed all over the United States and installed in cars during regular servicing. Every one of them is worth cash, some as much as $1,000. Why, one of you guys may have one in your car, not even a lot. Say, what are we waiting for? Let's get those filters. Hurry, folks. Get in on the big fram treasure hunt. You could win up to $1,000 in cash. Check your car filters now. And now, act two of yours truly Johnny Dollar and the Frisco Fire Matter. Expense account item five, two bucks for a taxi. In my opinion, Peter H. Barnwell had the warehouse fire set. But opinions don't count in my business. You're going to have proof. And I hadn't yet got together with my informant, Smoky Sullivan. Smoky wants a clever arsonist himself. Later, a counterfeiter, a bootlegger. Just about everything in the book. But from the time he helped me with a case a couple of years ago, he'd stayed on the straight and narrow. And of course, I've always paid him well for his help. Before going on to my hotel, I stopped in to see Bill Mullen of the Arson Squad. Yeah, the papers say you're in town. Johnny glad to see you. Yeah, how are you, Bill? But there's no reason for you to be here about that fire. Well, that's so. We've already found out how it started. Oh, Bill. Some old derelict. Name of Stumpy Moran. He used to sleep there every night. Had an old iron bed and a little sort of shack on one side of that warehouse. Yeah. So last night, like a lot of the darn fools all over the country every night, he went to bed loaded and lit a cigarette. Result? No more mattress. No more shack. No more warehouse. What are you holding him? Also, no more Stumpy Moran. He died in the fire? Yep. And you're sure that's how it started? Johnny, when you've combed through evidence on as many cases like that as I have, there's no mistaking it. But now, Bill, all the way from the source of the blaze to the empty bottle, the carbonized paper from the cigarette, the foil from the cigarette package, the hair from the mattress, a thousand and one little things that the ordinary person wouldn't even think to look for. So listen. Yeah. Be a nice guy and call up the papers, will you? Why? Because they saw you over in Barnwell's office. They've decided it was arsonist. They're calling us a bunch of bums. The only reason they do it is to make headlines. So call them up and tell them to lay off, will you? Set them straight. Not until I'm sure they aren't right, Bill. Huh? Now, wait a minute. What's that mean? I'll see you later. Let them fix another taxi to the hotel hunting it up on Knob Hill. I went straight to my room and sat down to wait for Smokey Solomon to call. I didn't have to wait long. Smokey? Yeah. Well, I hear they found out how that fire started. Stumpy? That's right, Stumpy Moran. He was Johnny. Yeah. But they found all the evidence. He'd been drinking and smoking in bed. He never touched a drop, Johnny. You sure? He didn't. It was my pal. Where are you, Smokey? Please. The cocktail bar over on the... That's... Okay. Now listen. Yeah? Do you know who did set that fire? Yeah. Wait a minute. Touchy Thompson? Yeah. You're absolutely sure it was he? I'm the only one who looked for a signer. Debonair? What's this? A new word game? No. I'm just mentioning the qualities that people admire in other people. Oh, I see. If you're sociable, up to date. And what was another word? Debonair? Yes. Debonair. All right. Listen to it this way. This is how many of your friends are serving Pepsi-Cola these days. It's the up-to-date refreshment. Be sociable. Behind the hungry angel, I found a couple of policemen carefully going over every inch of the phone booth where Smokey called me. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Conroy heard the shots and came running back here. Did you get the angle of that bullet, old Conroy? Hey, listen. Listen. What about Smokey? City hospital. But he was going to live a dollar. Not a chance. And you have no idea who shot him? No. But you're a smart dick. Why don't you find out for it? All right. Now look. Now let me tell you something else, $2. If that warehouse fire had been torched job, which it wasn't, like you're blabbing it out to all our papers, your dear pal Smokey Sullivan is the only one who could have done it. So his being knocked off is good riddance. Why Smokey? Because we got every other fire bug in this town nailed down. That's why. Want a bet? Mr. Dollar, I honestly don't understand it, considering the way one of those bullets nicked his heart. But it looks as though that man Sullivan will live. Now the point is, doctor, can I talk to him? Well, you can try, of course. Oh, this way, Mr. Dollar. But he was not able to give anything to the police who just left. Then listen, doctor, do everything you can for him. Would you outfoot the bill? Oh, very well. Right in here. Okay. You, uh, mind if I talk to him alone? If you like. And, uh, if you can. Thanks. Yeah. Doc says you're going to be okay. Yeah. Can't get rid of me. Out of boys, Smokey. Uh, I didn't talk to the cops. Just looked at him like I was dead. Hey, Smokey, did you see who put the slugs into you? No, Johnny. But it must have been touchy. Touchy Thompson. Same as he set that fire. All right. Now listen, you're in no shape to go over there and show me. But if the arson squad found no trace and believe me, they know everything to look for. Chemicals. What? Touchy had chemicals. Special chemicals. Never left a trace. Everything leaves a trace of some kind. No. He had to use a gas mask. That's what must have knocked out Stumpy Moran. Then Touchy could plant a liquor. Cigarettes. Then I guess the only thing I can do is try to find Touchy Thompson. Johnny. Yeah. If you do, Johnny, be careful. Yeah. Yeah. Act four of yours truly, Johnny Dollar, in a moment. Rambler station wagons lead all but two other makes in sales. Repeat. Rambler station wagons now lead all but two other makes. Car registration figures prove it. Never before has any station wagon scored such a sweeping success in so short a time. Why the nationwide swing to Rambler? Well, listen to this. If you want America's lowest price station wagon, Rambler has it. If you want big six passenger room, plus America's easiest parking, Rambler has that. Most miles per gallon? Rambler has that too. Trade in value? Rambler has the highest of any low priced car. Yes, Rambler is America's top economy station wagon. But Rambler is also the compact quality car. The only car to offer personalized comfort, loading front seats to glide back and forward separately, adjustable headrest, reclining seat backs, finest air conditioning at lowest cost, deep dip rust proofing. Yes, all America is discovering that Rambler station wagons are different, and Americans love that difference. So will you. Drive a Rambler station wagon now, six or V8 at Rambler dealers. And now, act four of yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Expense account items 7, 5, 20 more taxifairs. There was nobody home a touchy Thompson's place. Only the note on the door smoke he'd told me about. Gone fishing. Fishing, huh? He was probably hiding somewhere around the town, waiting for the atmosphere to clear. But how to bring him out in the open? Then I suddenly remembered an old friend of mine, Mori Webster, head man at station KCBS. I'd have made a dollar even for a cab to the Sheraton Palace and the KCBS studios. Johnny, this is a pleasant surprise, although I had heard you were in town. How are you, Mori? My neck. We're in the midst of a big celebration. You know, our 50th anniversary. Oh? Yes, sir, we were the first broadcasting station in the country, and we're kind of proud of it. Well, I should think you would be. Let me add my congratulations. Thank you, Johnny. Now, what brings you here? Mori, when is your next newest broadcast? Well, let me see. Down mostly, we'll hit the air in just about seven minutes. That'll just give me time to knock out a news item for him to read on the air. Oh, what kind? I'll tell you while I'm scribbling it, if you don't mind. Well... Yeah, yeah, go ahead. Mori, I have a sneaking suspicion. It'll flush out an arsonist. Oh? Yeah. And killer. As briefly as possible, I told Mori Webster my plan, the while it. I handed him the news item. I cooked up. He penciled in a couple of minor changes. Then gave it to his top man in the news bureau, Don Mosley. A few minutes later, there in his office, we listened to it being broadcast over the powerful facilities of KCBS. On the local scene, well, it took insurance investigator Johnny Dollar to clear up the matter of the Barnwell warehouse fire. There it comes, yeah. Dollar has proved conclusively that it was set by an old hand at that business named Smoky Sullivan. His reason? To kill another man by the name of Moran, whose body was later found buried in the embers. Incidentally, Sullivan himself has just died as a result of bullet wounds, no doubt inflicted by some friend of Moran's, who has sought to avenge his murder. Well... As for the hold up that occurred early this morning on the Embarcadero... Well, I hope it does the trick, Johnny. What are you going to do now? Mori, there's going to be a stakeout at the home of one John R. Thompson, formerly known as Touchy Thompson, out on Aldea Drive. Oh, then you're turning this whole thing over to the police. That stakeout will be me. But if Thompson did set that fire and kill Moran... I still have to prove it. Well, don't you think it's a little dangerous, Johnny? Could be. Well, in just a minute. Thanks, Mori. Thanks a lot. So I went out to Aldea Drive again, and I parked myself rather uncomfortably behind a hedge across the street from Thompson's place. Finally, it must have been around 10 p.m., an expensive car pulled up and a man loaded with fishing gear went into the house. I waited a couple of minutes, and then I went over, knocked on the door, walked in, introduced myself, and laid a few cards right on the table. Yeah, crazy dollar. Didn't even know about that fire until he told me just now. Why lie about it, Touchy? Look, I've been fishing. Yeah, for what? An alibi. Well, give me that, the trout. Look, look, look here. Here they are. There. Trout. Ever see a nice mess of them? Pick them up at any market. Not me. All right, who was with you? I was alone. I was over there, camped beside the lake all the time. My sleeping bag's still out in the car. What lake? Mono Lake. It's a little over 200 miles east of here. Yeah, I know it well. Well, that's why I caught them. I know it well enough to know that because of the high mineral content of that water, no trout could ever survive in it. What? Well, look, wait a minute. It's no good, Touchy. And with the proof I have that only you could have set that fire with some of your fancy chemicals. What do you know about that? You got no proof. Look. Perhaps he has, Touchy. Well, I'm glad to see you two know each other. Very smart, weren't you, Touchy? What do you mean? I mean the way you fell for that phony news broadcast and came back here. Phony. And, Dollar, thanks for setting the stage for me. Yeah. What does that mean? You came here because you suspected Touchy. You had a big argument. You both pulled your guns and killed each other. No, no. Wait, wait, wait. That's the only conclusion the police can possibly reach when they find your buddies lying there. Look. Nope. Don't make a single move, Dollar. Neither of you will do anything because five seconds from now you'll both be dead. Where are you going? What? What's all that trigger, Barnwell? It's the last thing you'll ever do. Bill. Climb in this window, boys, and take care of them. There is money need for violence, officer. That's right, Barnwell. There is. Well, Johnny, now just one under the sun ever led you to come out here, Bill. Your old friend Smoky Sullivan called me to the hospital. He was a little worried about you. You mind? Mind. You've got to be kidding. They were both ended up to their ears, each in trying to defend himself just put the other in there much deeper. And by the time the courts get through with them, they'll be sorry they ever lived. The expense account total, including the trip back to Hartford and a good hefty gratuity for Smoky Sullivan, plus all his hospital bills, $923.91. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. I will return in just a moment. Yeah. I'm a mean widow, kid. And are you pleased with yourself? Sure, because I'm a gerb. A bathroom gerb. Bathrooms is where the meanest gerbs get to live. Do I have fun causing odor and spreading disease? Well, you better watch out, son. Your landlady may find out about Lysol, brand disinfectant. Lysol? Oh, Lysol. That's what's all. Well, anyway. A lot of women are finding that a dash of Lysol in their cleaning sauce every week wipes out nasty bathroom disease germs like you. This infects from one cleaning to the next as no other product can. Wipes out many deadly viruses, too. Lysol makes every cleaner work better. It's the easy modern way to get bathrooms really clean and free of odors. Lysol can do that? And what's more, now besides regular Lysol, there's a new, sweet-smelling, pine-scented Lysol. And they're both out to get you. Hey, were you ever a mean little kid? One more remark like that, and I'll open this bottle of Lysol. Here's our star to tell you about next week's story. Next week, a quiet little ranch in Oklahoma. Quiet, that is, until the shooting starts. Join us, won't you? Yours truly, Shawnee Dollar. It is written, produced and directed by Jack Johnstone. Heard in our cast were Virginia Gregg, Vic Perron, Larry Dobkin, Alan Reed, Gil Stratton Jr., Paul Duboff, Bartlett Robinson, Don Mosley, and Tony Barrett. Be sure to join us next week, same time and station for another exciting story of yours truly, Shawnee Dollar. This is Dan Cumberley speaking. This is the CBS Radio Network.