 Good evening, friends of the creaking door. This is your host to welcome you once again into the inner sanctum. Come on in for the crime of your life. And meet one of the illustrious inmates from our... Who's who? Heh heh heh heh. This cadaver has cut up his Mr. Seymour blade. His wife had a tiff with him and punctuated it with a kitchen knife through the middle, which is of course one way of making your points dim. Heh heh heh heh... All right, then lend a fear now to some grim happenings, and hear what kind of profits our star Boris Karloff and the roll of Mark Diva's reaped when he put up... Death for sale. The ashtray in the reception room is stuffed with half-smoked cigarettes. The disheveled man waiting paces his caged animal steps this way and that, each second his eyes dart to the door at the end of the room, at the slightest sound. At last, the knob turns. The door swings wide open. Well, Doctor? Your wife is in pretty bad shape. Corvace, my wife. Oh, I'm sorry, I thought... Forget it. Bad shape. But you're going to pull out of it, right? Uh, Mr. Diva's... She's not going to pull out of it? Well, it doesn't look as if she will. What? There's a chance, only a very small one, but still a chance. You're lying. She's going to pull out of it. She's got to. We're doing everything we can look, even... even if she has to die. You could pull her out of it for an hour, couldn't you? Just an hour so that she could sign something and... Mr. Diva's... It means everything to me, Doc. You could give her a shot or something, couldn't you? Good day, Mr. Diva. I'll give you 5,000. Good. 10,000, Doc, and you fool, you don't understand, you've got to do this for me. You've got to. You've got to. You... He'd do the same in my case, so would you, so would anybody. $50,000. I was one hour away from $50,000. Money that belongs to me, my money that I waited seven long years for, and I won't be cheated out of it. Seven long years. It all seems so simple and so sure. We had a perfect plan for $50,000, and nothing was going to keep us from it, and nothing did. Up to three weeks ago, that was when Cora called me at the office. I just thought she was imagining things again as she had right along. I told her so, but she said, no, this man was watching her night and day. He is, Mark. He's outside the house right now. Oh, come now, Cora. I tell you he is. Oh, you're just imagining things again. Why don't you try it? I'm not imagining anything. He's right outside the house across the street, and I'm... You'll be positive after seven years? I know I've been wrong before, but this time I'm sure Elliot's come back and... What? The doorbell just rang. Who is it? Evelyn? I suppose so. We're supposed to go to the movie together. Good idea. Take your mind off believing everyone you see is Elliot's stance. You're not coming home, then. Not till I've finished at the office. All right, Mark. Suit yourself. Goodbye, darling. You're my best Evelyn. Mark! All right. All right, I'm coming. I was on the phone, Evelyn, and I was... Aren't you going to ask me in? Of course. After all these years, you've probably forgotten who I am. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Elliot Starnes, your beloved husband. Elliot, you're supposed to be... Dad? Yes, I know I'm supposed to be, Cora, but as you can see, I'm very much alive. I knew it was you this time. I knew it. I think you better ask me in, don't you? After all, it isn't very often that a husband comes back from the dead. Back from the dead. That's what he was all right. When Cora called me this time, I didn't say I couldn't leave the office. Yes. All right, Cora, pull yourself together. But, Mark, you don't understand. Oh, yes, I do. You've been scared for the last seven years, and you're going to go on being scared for the rest of your life. He wants $5,000 more to disappear again. Well, I didn't expect him to come back just to say hello. Of course, he wants more money. What are we going to do? He knows that we collect that 50,000 insurance money three weeks from now. He says if we don't come through with this five, he'll go straight to the insurance company and... Oh, don't be a fool. He's in this thing as much as we are. He won't do anything to spoil his chances. All he wants is money. The longer he's around, the more chance we take that somebody might recognize him. We can go to jail. We've waited a long time to get our hands on this money, and I don't expect to be cheated out of it now. You're going to give him the five, sir. I don't know. Maybe. But... But nothing. When did he say he's coming back? Tonight. After midnight. All right. I'll be here. We'll handle Elliot once and for all, and after this time, there won't be any coming back. I guess no matter how carefully you plan, there's always that one small thing you fail somehow to cover. Seven years before, I was sure we'd covered everything, and it was clever, really clever. The law says that if a body isn't recovered after seven years' time, a man is declared legally dead. So we found us a body, Cora, and I did. We found Elliot Starnes and sold him on debt for $5,000. Sure, I'll do it. I'll marry Cora and then disappear. For $5,000, you can sell me on anything. He married Cora, and a little while after the policy was issued, his automobile was found at the bottom of Ridgely's pond. The police dragged the water for days, but naturally didn't find the body, and the insurance people exercised their right to withhold payment till Elliot was declared legally dead. I understand, gentlemen, and I don't even care about the money. All I care about is that my poor husband is dead. It was clever, all right, and Cora put on a good act. We knew we'd cash in while others had failed because we were at action. We were willing to wait for seven years, and wait we did. It was a perfect plan. Nothing was going to keep us from it. Nothing except now Elliot had come back. He swore it never returned, and he'd gone back on his word, but by midnight, I'd made up my mind how to handle Elliot. No, Mark. The only way. No. The fire that he wants, that's only the beginning. He'll hold us up all his life. No. He'll drain us dry of every cent of that 50,000. I won't let you do it. Yes, you will. We're in this far. You won't back down now. I've got to. I never dreamed it would turn out like this. Not a few weeks, and he'll be legally dead. There must be another way. Only this, believe me, and after it's done, there'll be you and me, and nobody else. Go on. Open the door for him. What? Cora, do what I say. I can't. All right. I'll be inside. Tell him everything is set. I will. I'll, Cora. Won't you come in, Elliot? Thank you, my dear. Don't mind if I do. Mark here yet, Cora? Yes. He's in the living room. Oh, fine. And you and Mark have agreed on the deal for me. Yes, we have. Come in, Elliot. Everything's set. Mark is waiting for Elliot in the, you'll pardon the expression, living room. Whatever happens to Elliot actually serves him right. After all, here in the sanctum we don't go for life, people walking around as if they were ghosts. It's enough to scare the death out of us. Poor Cora is so nervous. She just can't look a corpus delicti in the primal facey. Well, enough grave philosophy. Suppose we let our star Boris Karloff take up our stark story where we left off. Everything was set. I planned to kill Elliot with the knife I held behind me and I felt absolutely no compunction about it. Are you, you're joking? No, Elliot. You're crazy. Cora, stop him. You'll never get away with it. Mark, no! I buried him in the back of the house. I say I did because Cora wasn't much used to anyone that night or for several days afterwards. She got over it as I knew she would. She got over it when she realized that I was right that we had gotten away from it and no one could ever know and no one would miss him. She got over it when I reminded her that in just one more week we'd be sharing that $50,000. Just one week. That's right, Cora. I've been a lot of trouble to you these past few days. I am sorry. I get it. It's all over. Yes, it is. I feel a lot better when the money's actually ours. Somehow, way in the back of my mind I feel that maybe we won't... Look, darling, it's as good as ours now. There's nothing left in the way, not a single thing. One week. That's all. Now wouldn't you know? Are you expecting anyone? No. Evelyn? Not at this hour. Well, whoever it is, get rid of it. Yes, darling. I'll get rid of it. Yes? Mrs. Don? Yes? Mrs. Elliot Starnes? That's right. I want to talk to you. Here's my card. Well, I'm sorry. I'm busy right now. You're too busy to see me. I can promise you that. Oh, now see here. Nice card, ain't it? Real fancy engraving. Mrs.... Mrs. Elliot Starnes. That's right. I'm the woman Elliot married after he disappeared seven years ago. Now I don't think you're going to be too busy to see me after all. Do you? Maybe it's fate. Maybe it's all in the cards. You work hard. You think out a plan that's letter perfect. Then up pops the unexpected, forcing you into the first desperate step to lick it. First Elliot Starnes himself and his second wife that we didn't know existed. And here's our wedding license just in case you don't believe me. There you can look at it. Take it easy, Cora. We believe you're his wife, Mrs. Starnes. And he's got a birthmark. We said we believe you. Now what do you want? What does any good woman want? My husband. Then why come here? Where else would I go? I'm afraid we don't understand. Do we, Cora? No. I'm afraid you do. Now look here. I'm afraid you understand all for well. Elliot told me. Told you what? What you two were doing. He also told me if he should fail to come home after a couple of days. Mrs. Starnes, we haven't seen your husband for seven years. Now you don't expect me to believe that, do you? I don't see why not. I do. He was the other day with my own eyes. I seen Elliot walk into this house. But I didn't see him walk out again. The matter, Mr. Davis, you got nothing to say. But what do you want, Mrs. Starnes? My husband, of course. Only since you killed him, I can't very well have that, can I? What? He's the only man I ever loved, and you killed him. I never should have let him come here. For days I've begged him not to. Mrs. Starnes. I may never shake letting him come here. I know that now. But I want him back. I love him, and I want Elliot back. Do you want your husband, Mrs. Starnes? Or a substantial sum of money? Huh? How much? How can you talk about money at a time like this? Five thousand. I loved my husband, Mr. Davis. Seventy-five hundred? Well, how much? Twenty-five thousand. What? In cash. Mark. Let me handle this caller. And if we refuse? Well, then I'll just naturally have to tell my story to the police. Alright. Call her. Oh, let's drop all the small talk, Mr. Davis. I want twenty-five thousand, and I want it fast. Now make up your mind. I'll make up my mind. Now, Mr. Davis, don't get rough. I'm not as dumb as my ex-husband. I've taken steps against anything happening to me. No, Mark. Better listen to her. You're not getting away with this. Then you don't get away with Elliot's murder. So help me, Earl. Before you put that hand on me, you better have your lady friend look out that window. What? There's a taxi across the street. My taxi. And the driver knows I'm in here. You'd have to kill him, too. Elliot's ever-loving second wife is here to stay. And if you want to get her out of your life, the cost is going to be twenty-five thousand dollars. By this time tomorrow night. After she left, I had some work to do on Cora. It won't be the same way, Mark. Not another murder. Who said anything like that? Promise me? Not the same way. Sure, sure, promise. After all, if we can get away with twenty-five thousand, is that so bad? I'd rather settle for none of it. That money won't do us any good now. Why not? It just won't. Oh, you're all upset. You'll feel differently the day after tomorrow when you sign those papers in the insurance office and they hand that fat check over to you. No, Mark. I'll never feel differently about it again. I knew I couldn't work Cora my way much longer. But it was just two more days. Two more days to get that fifty thousand. Just two things to settle in. Just two days. First, there was Mrs. Starr. When she came to my apartment the next night, I handed the envelope over to her. It's all here? You could open the envelope and count it if you like. I don't have to, do I? What if I cheated you? You wouldn't. I could always come back. You could always come back tomorrow anyway. What do you think I am? Doesn't make any difference now what I think. Okay. No hard feelings. There are, but they won't bother me for long. Of course not. That money you're collecting will cure that. I'll be cured before then. That's your business. It's yours too, now. I don't see how. What do you see? Put that knife down. I will. Into you. No. Don't. Please. A door's locked. You can't get out. Don't. You can have the money back. There isn't any money in that envelope. What? Just strips of newspaper. Where can I get twenty five thousand dollars? I don't care about the money. I do. I cared about it for seven years. Cared enough to murder once and I can do it again. Now Mrs. Starr. Don. I've no hard feelings towards you. None at all. Just two things to take care of in just two days. The first, Mrs. Starrns was taken care of. And the second was now just an hour away. The fifty thousand was waiting in the insurance office for Cora. All she had to do was sign her name on some papers to get it. Oh, you can imagine how relieved I was as I sat next to Cora when she drove to the insurance office. But it was different with Cora. Cora didn't say a word. There's nothing left to say, Mark. Oh, money won't make you talk, Cora. You wait and see after you get your hands on the... Hey, you're taking the wrong street. No, Mark. Sure you are. This is the way. It's the only way left for us, Mark. We're driving straight out of town. We're never coming back. There'll be no more murders. Cora. I know you killed that woman. Now where did you ever get that idea? I paid her and she left. I was outside your apartment house last night. All right. So you know now. What did you expect? I couldn't let it all go down the drain, not after seven years? Turn the car around. No. You're going to sign those papers. I want that money. It's too late, Mark. Like fun it is. Let go. You're turning this car around. Mark, will you let go? Mark! I wasn't even scratched in the crack. Cora wasn't that lucky. I rushed her here to the hospital. You heard what the doctor said. There's a chance. Only a small one, but still a chance. No, the doctor doesn't understand. There's got to be more than only one small chance. I was one hour away from that $50,000. Money that belongs to me, money that I've waited seven years for, and I won't be cheated out of it. Cora's got to leave. She's got to sign those papers. Someone waiting for you down the corridor, Mr. Deville. About corridor? There's still a chance, isn't there? No chance at all anymore. You're lying. The gentleman is waiting. You're lying. She's not dead. She can't be. The gentleman is from the police. He asked me to call. The lie, she's not dead. Mr. Devers, try to understand. She is... No. It's not true, and I won't listen to you. She's got to sign those papers. You've only got to keep her alive another hour. You're a doctor. You can do that. Mr. Devers, please. Seven years, don't you understand? Seven years go down the drain. Seven years. It can't turn out that way. No. She's not dead. So Mark's 50,000 went down the drain after all. And Mark went down the hatch of a scaffold. You know, I can't feel sorry for Mrs. Starnes. She should have known that a rolling widow gathers only mausoleums. Yes, sir, when you use a dead husband for blackmail, you're bound to end up face down. Oh, a footnote. When you're dealing with life insurance, remember, honesty is the best policy. Well, friends, it's time once again to close that creaking door. I'll hear next week at the same time when we'll be back with a little hunk of horror. You'll be sure to listen, won't you? Until next week then. Good night. Pleasant dreams.