 Mystery House. Mystery House. That strange publishing firm owned by Dan and Barbara Glenn, where each new novel is acted out by the Mystery House staff before it is accepted for publication. Mystery House. Come right in, Art. We're just about ready to start. Hi, Mrs. Glenn. Where's Dan? He was called out of town on business, a publisher's convention. Uh-uh. I know all about these conventions. So do I, Mr. Hearn. That's why I lured him down with so much work he won't have time to draw a deep breath. Say, speaking of deep breaths, have you ever noticed how important breathing is to a radio announcer? In what way? Why, you have to breathe deeply to make your commercial announcements sound natural and easy. Say this, for example. All right, everybody in your places, set the scene, guys. Death at Deadline. Tonight's story opens in the private office of Luke Chilton, managing editor of The Star. One of his reporters, Pamela Carter, enters to announce an unwelcome caller. You have a caller, Luke. Oh, yes, Pam. I'm busy with everything right now. I'm making the WM page one. The same old caller, Luke. You don't mean Jim Bullen. The same. He always comes when I'm busy. They lose a damn word. I'll tell him you're not here. No, that won't do. He knows I'm in. Look, Luke, why not give him a bump rush, just because he was a reporter on The Star and you followed him? Not for them, soft Pam. I feel sorry for the guy. He could have been a good reporter with you. Yes, he hadn't had a heart full of blossoming. Why, you'd have lost your own job if you'd let him get away with the kind of shed downs he was pulling. No respectable people. I know, I know. Show him. You are too soft, Luke. Thanks. Oh, don't run on my account, Pammy. Hello, Jim. Busy as a little bumblebee, aren't you, Luke? I am busy, Jim. A little hard up. Ten bucks is just about all I can spend. Get up, Luke. Surprise. I'm not after money tonight. No? No. I've been thinking things over and I've decided to come back to work for The Star. I'm sorry, Jim. You're a good reporter, but after what happened, when it was this blackmail, Jim, you suppressed the story for money. The whole staff knew about it. If I'd put you back on, I'd lose the respect of everybody in the plant. I always liked The Star. If you're ready to get down to business and do a good reporting job, there's no reason why you can't get back to work. But not on this newspaper. But it's on The Star I want to work for, Luke. You don't seem to want to stay. I'm sorry, Jim. Look, I've decided to go back on The Star. And if you're smart, you'll take me. I told you I can't, Jim. If you don't, you'll be making a big mistake. And it's a mistake I'll have to make. I'm giving you a chance, Luke. You're giving me a chance. Now listen here. What I said, you fired me. I took my spanking like a little man. But I've decided the period of punishment's over. I'm back. No, you are not. You and your pious talk of blackmail. You know why you fired me just as well as I do. Do you think I ever fell for that blackmail gag? That was the truth. You fired me because you're in love with Pam Carter and you thought I was in the way. You can't talk to me like that and get away with it. I can't talk that way because you don't want to hear the truth. I was running you a close race with Pam till you fired me. Get out of here. I don't have to put up with this kind of talk. You blew right in here. No right in the star? Why? Because I was fired by you. But you're going to hire me again. You're wrong, Jim. Did wrong. Now get out of here. I'll have some of the boys through you. I'm getting back under the star. Back where Pam is. Back where I can straighten things out with her. And if I can't do it because you're here, I'll have to see that you're not here. You think you can get my job? I'm not talking about your job, Luke. I'm talking about you. I can get rid of you so easy you wouldn't believe it. Permanently. Another day, another dollar. I'm heading for home and a little shut-eye. I'll buy you a cup of coffee if you're late for me. No, thanks. I need a sleep. You stick around here the first edition's off the press and that means another half-hour kill. In the words of the old song, I'm tired and I want to go to bed. Well, don't say I didn't often. Good night, Pam. Good night, Luke. Oh, and by the way, did Jim Bowlin make another touch? No. This time he demanded his job back. Demanded his job back? What? He must be crazy. Meet all kinds of threats. I don't see why you put up with him. Well, see you tomorrow. Right, Pam. Get out some links from the city editor and the wine desk. You want to see me? Yeah, a little chitlin', ain't ya? Sure. And I want to see you. Have a chance. I'll stand up, thanks. I talk better on my feet. What do you want? I'm Jeff Corkland. Oh, yes, we've had a few stories about you with Corkland. But I never had the pleasure of meeting him. It ain't gonna be any pleasure for you, children. No. I gotta tip your Latin loose on me in tomorrow morning's paper. Then you've been misinformed, Corkland. Not that it wouldn't be a pleasure to have a story on you. You got it, all right. If you'd be obliged me with the facts, I'd be happy to prove it. Don't try to bluff me, children. You've blown me wide open with a story about my gambling joint. You're wrong. If I ever get the chance, I will. But you don't figure into tomorrow's news. Not yet, in any rate. I'll believe you when I see the paper. You won't have to wait long. The boy should bring me a copy in a couple of minutes. I'll wait. Who told you there was gonna be a story about you? That's none of your business. I'm afraid it is. The people on this paper are telling us stories about you. It wasn't anybody who works for you. I know how you feel about that. I got the same kind of trouble. Rats that give tip-offs. Oh, pardon me. Here's your paper, Mr. Kelton. Thanks, Billy. You can move beat it now. Okay. Good night, Mr. Kelton. Good night. There, ladies and gentlemen. Look it over. Is it on the front page? I told you there isn't any story about you. You can start with the front page if you like. All right. You know, the paper seemed kind of dead without the war news anymore. A nice murder, huh? Say, I want to spend some time reading that one. Professionally, please? Yeah. Hey, hey, what's there? What are you trying to pull? Bulls. I don't get you. It's sorry about me. Right in the bottom of the front page. But you listen to me. Now? You think I can't read? Huh. Jeff Corklin, number one hoodlum and gangster, is through. Tomorrow, the star begins a sensational expose of his operations, naming names, dates, and places. The star today accuses Jeff Corklin of crimes ranging from crooked gambling to murder. All of these charges will be substantiated in future, future articles. Files on Corklin have been billed up over a period of months. And all the star's information will be turned over to any authorities who are interested. Today, the star... Sorry. You didn't know nothing about it. I never saw the story before in my life. What do you think you're talking to? I've found somebody who's been playing tricks around here. Just a minute. Hey, come over for that phone and I'll... I just want to call the compulsion room. I've got to find out where this story came from. You know where it came from, all right? Hey, come on. Shut up. Okay, wise guy. Take a look at all this information you say you got. Hey, don't have any information. All right. You think you're going to send me to the pen without my even raising a finger? Let's have it, children. Hey, don't have a thing at your house. Oh, no. Not much. You put yourself right out on a limb like you're doing that story if you didn't have proof. Come across. That story never came out of this office. I'm getting kind of tired of listening to that kind of stuff, children. We're in pain with a little boy. I mean, children. What do you mean? Fool. Put down that gun. Get me that proof you're yelping about, or I'll blast your head off. Now, where's the stuff in? Look around if you won't believe me. I'll look around, all right? Here's nothing here. I'm not your cheater from calling the composing room. The more papers are going out. You see, you got me right on a spot, don't you? Dope on a murder rap, huh? Hey, don't know a thing about it. Somebody spilled it to you. One of my boys. Think you got me cold, huh? Well, let me tell you something, wise boy. I got you cold, too. Even the office boy is left. Must be close at three o'clock in the morning. Nobody on the streets. I can get away from here plenty easy, and I can fix up an alibi. Either you give me that information or I'm going to blow you right off of the map. You fool, you've got to believe me. I believe you all right. I believe what you wrote in the paper. It says right at the top of the page. If you read it in a starred soul, and plenty of other people believe it, too. What have I got to do to convince you that I don't know anything about it? You couldn't do it, honey boy. First, I get a tip from a guy who knows what you're doing. He says certain things. I come here and what he says checks. Everything checks except you. Okay, show me a lie. Who are you talking with? He won't be a zero. Give me all that proof you say you got about me. But I don't have a thing. I'm getting kind of tired mucking around with you. You get to come across me for our counter three, or I'm going to blast you. One, two. Look at me. Who gave you the tip? That might be important. The guy used to work for you. Still a friend of yours. A guy who spends a lot of time with you. Jim Boland. He doesn't know a thing about what's going on around here. He doesn't know about that story. Tell him you're falling for time. One, two. All right, wise guy. Oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh. You've been framed. You wish. The false guy. There's Jim Boland, the ex-reporter figure in this murder. And what good will it do if it does him any good? We'll find out in the second act of tonight's story. Meanwhile, here's a message from our sponsor. Act two of Death at Deadline. Jeff Corklin has made a frenzied search of Luke Chilton's office without finding any evidence of his crime. He's just getting ready to leave. Jim Boland. Yeah. What do you think you're doing, Corklin? You think big enough to stop me, Boland? I wouldn't wait for your gun if I were you, Corklin. I won't hesitate to kill you and you're covered before you even get started. You were the guy who tipped me off. Sure. Sure, I was the one. And I knew what you'd do, too. That's a big idea. You thought I was working with you, didn't you, Corklin? Well, I wasn't. I'll, uh, take your gun if you don't mind. No. I said I'll take it. Thanks. You tipped me off in the story. You told me how long to wait before I came up here so I'd get to talk to Chilton alone. Now you're trying to turn me in. What's it all about? Maybe I'll tell you sometime, Corklin. Right now, I think I'd better call the police. Ellen? Oh, Ryan? Ryan and Ricky Jim Bowlin over at the start. Bring over a couple of good strong boys. And I've got a murder for you and it's a little tough to handle. No, no, I'm not joking. I said a murder and that's exactly what I mean. Right. Goodbye. Oh, are you dirty double-corklin or Corklin? There's nothing I'd like any better than to cheat. You were working on the star all this time? Sure. You know, Luke had an idea that no reporter could get the goods on Corklin because the hoods had every newspaper man in town spot it. So we planted that blackmail story about me and I got fired. At least that's what everybody thought. But you really were fired? You mean I was taking off the payroll? Sure. Luke was afraid there would be some leaks in the office so he really did it up-ground. That's why I came in to borrow money from him so often. He was getting me the full amount of my check every week and then he was going to get the money back from the paper once we broke with the story. But he didn't take any things in it. I really thought... I know. As it all looked. He could put on a good act when he had to. But he didn't even tell me. Time, honey. That was one thing he really felt bad about. Now, do you think he would tell me? No, about making me look bad to you. He figured he'd sort of broken things up between us. Said the first thing he was going to do after the story broke was square me with you. But Luke and I were in love with each other. We were going to get married. And borrowed him too, honey. He said he was afraid he'd fallen for him and that, well, he just wasn't a married kind. But that's not true. Trying not to be started, honey. He was putting on a show to get a wave of a big story. He was a newspaper man. But what happened to the story? What happened to all the information about Corklin? The document contained it. Corklin got him, of course. But the cops can't figure out how he got him out of the place unless he had one of his boys with him and sent him out before he got loose. Hey, officer Ray. Hi, Ray. Corklin got him down, he told you where he'd get the paper again. Oh, well, he's done better than that. He's gone to another murder. Another murder? There's a farmer in the star composing room. Two common shoots. It seemed kind of funny, shoots reading that note that had been called out of town, right when a murder was taking place. But why wouldn't he kill the composing room, too? Yeah. He said he went to this shoot to ask him to keep the story out of the paper. Shoots wouldn't do it. So he thought he was funny and killed him. He was planning on going back into the composing room then taking the story out himself. But he didn't know how to unlock the page form. Did he tell you where the body is? No, it was luck. That's what's burning me up. He tells us he's killed his shoots and then he sticks the last of them. He says it's up to us to find the body. And we can't do nothing about it till we find the cop. That's right. You can, can you? Sergeant, here he is. We'd make it snappy. Hello, Miss Carter. Hello. Listen, Copper, what do you stand around for? I said I wanted to talk to the lady alone. All right, all right. But no tricks, now. Daddy's the cop, isn't it? Is that daddy York about my killing the composing room form and working? Right. The police have finally started licking for salmon shoots. You know? Kind of funny how things work out. What do you mean? Why, please. What do you mean? Why, we are hating me for killing your sweetheart and wanting revenge. And I hate Jim Bowling and wanting revenge. And the only way we can both get what we want is by working together. Somehow, Mr. Carter, I don't hate you as much as I did at first. You believe my story about what happened, huh? I know it's cool. Jim Bowling is just as busy as James Luke as if he pulled the trigger. It was that story. And everything depends on my hunch that Jim Bowling parted that story. Then put you off. I was crazy tall when I seen it in the stars. Being intent by deaf men, I was all true. I lost my head. This was exactly what you were supposed to do. If the police would just find the composing room form and stop. Baby, you don't even know he's dead. You asked me. The only way Jim could have parted that story was through home and school. And it couldn't be that he's so tall. The guy left a note so then he was gone away. But the note was type of. Bowling's uglier than me. But I can't touch him. We could just find the body. May not even be a body. Eh, somewhere. Gordon, I just got to know Jim Bowling. Tell him for sure, Luke. So I'd like to help you with that job. I'll get Jim Bowling. Somehow. Somewhere. You know, baby, when you get your teeth like that, I'd give you a job in my mob. If I was out. There. Well, I'll see you for the night, Sam. Going home? No. Um, I wish you'd stay a few minutes, Sam. Why? I just called Officer Riley. What for? Well, that's new evidence on Luke's murder. Look, honey, I wish you'd forget that murder business. It's all settled. They got Corklin cold. What more do you want? They're still human, so. You know something? I don't believe Jake is even that. I think Corklin used his disappears to mess things up. He knows they won't go to trial till they find Corklin's body. That's a very interesting theory. But those who don't know, that's that. What do you mean? You'll see. Oh, yes, I know. That covers better than goodness, Dr. What's this all about, anyways? I want you to get gimbaled and under arrest, Officer Riley. What? Oh, it's a joke. I was never more serious in my life. Sam, what's this all about? That's your idea of a joke that's in rotten taste. It's not a joke. Did you think I believed you when you said Luke wasn't really in love with me? And? So you're sorry about that. I never believed you for a minute. You hated Luke because he fired you. Because I let Corklin, instead of you, for a lot of reasons. You decided to kill him because he didn't have the nerve to do it yourself. And you were much too clever to do it anyway. Oh, Pam, please. Don't be so mad at your mother. You kept Jeff Corklin off, but Luke was going to run an extra day of pressing rapids. You told Corklin to come in after the deadline when they wouldn't do anything else in the office. That's a beautiful story. On the cool one? Then you wrote that story about Corklin. A threat which stole his whole time. Look, I wasn't even supposed to be working on the paper. I'd have had fun getting a story published, wouldn't I? That's what I'm going to get you, Tim. You had to enlist Herman Schultz's aide to get that story with a star. You told him some lie. Probably that Luke had added it in. Once that story was locked up in a paid form, we still mixed death warrant. That's a nice theory, Pam, but... we don't have an ounce of peace for it. That's right, Miss Carter. You've got to be careful about making sure that you... Oh, I don't mind, Riley. But I do have hope. I got the original copy of that proper news story. And it wasn't Corklin and Luke's typewriter. Is that right now? Which doesn't give me a clue, though, that's it. I had a... well, a friend of mine that's in the your apartment, Jim. The typewriter and your typewriter checked if they're typing in the story. So what? So what? It means that you wrote the story. Well, what if it does? You've killed Luke. We've got Corklin to come in to see him. We'll find it. So he'd get that just before the paper came out with that story. Luke, what if I did? You can't hang a finger on me. I'm literally in the clear. Get Corklin to admit it, killing your children. You get it. There's no argument there. You can't do that thing to me. That's what I wanted, is will you take him? You kind of... Luke had it coming to him. But I didn't kill him. You think you're awfully clever, don't you? Clever enough so that I wasn't going to involve myself in murder. And I didn't. I've got what I wanted without taking any risk. You're forgetting one thing, Jim. That's an important thing. I didn't forget anything. That's the death in the murder of Herman Schultz. Remember? That he doesn't murder. Oh, yes, yes he was. Corklin confessed to that one, too. Corklin lies. He's using that as a strategy. Oh, hello, Jerry. Got the first edition for it? Here's his card. Right here. Right. Herman Schultz isn't dead. No. Take a look at the front page of the... Star, Jim. Let me see. Police found body of Star Foreman. The body of Herman Schultz, Star composing room foreman, was found late last night by the police or bullet in his temple. The police were baffled by the fact that the bullet was not from the gun of Jeff Corklin, who had previously confessed to the murder. That puts a different light on things now. You would hold him a gun on Corklin when you called me over here to get him. I'd like to take a look at that blood, Corklin. Maybe they ballast it, Take that frame up. I didn't kill Herman Schultz. I'd like to see that gun ballon. Can I let him have it, Jim? No. No, you're framing me. You did this coming, Pam. You did it. That's right, Jim. Explain everyone that this helps. Hand over that gun ballon. All right. Here. Sir, I was going to tell you... I'll get you. Why you shoot at me, will you? Why you're getting... Oh, yeah. I didn't kill him. You have to do it. You have to set this over against the body. You know if Henry didn't tell me you opened the station about finding that body, it wouldn't be worth an entertainment case like I did. But... This isn't any better, Riley. What? Your body? But it's right here in the back. I know. That's the second time that we've had a funny story. I thought that it was about him. I was hunting for it. I discovered that Jim had killed Herman Schultz to take that story about Corklin and the people. He didn't tell me. Schultz was hiding in Jim's apartment until it turned over. But if Schultz was hiding in Bowling's apartment, then Bowling knew he wasn't there. Likely, I asked Jim if I could tell his revolver. He said I'd been scared at first. Which made it... He let me take it. Any of the things I attended to him was one minute tired. When he saw that story, he thought I'd framed him. Just as he'd seen Luke. He could see the things touching the bullet and finding the things in his gun. It never occurred to him that a story in a star was another story. It may have been a fake, but it sure got results. Yes, it did. I took care of him, Sam. I... I think I should do... It didn't... It didn't...