 Johnny Luller, hi there Johnny. This is Helen Daner. Helen Daner? That's right. I live out here in Mon... I see. Insurance of one of the companies you represent, the Greater Southwest Insurance Company. Oh yeah, I do a lot of work for them. But also Johnny, do you mind if I call you Johnny? Well no, not at all Ms. Daner. Or is it Mrs? It'll just Helen. As I started to say, I not only have that insurance but Johnny, I never miss that radio program of yours where you tell all about those exciting cases you solve. Sometimes I just don't see how you do it. Well I hope you never find out about the ones I miss out on. But now Ms. Daner... I don't think I've missed a single one of your programs. Good. I'm your most loyal listener and I think you're wonderful. Well thanks. And that's why I'm calling you instead of the police about this. Well look Ms. Daner, I... Oh? Yes. Calling about what? Johnny, isn't that what you say, nab them? Yes, sure, but go on. Well Johnny, these terrible people might suspect that I'm the one who told the police about them. What people, Ms. Daner? And if that happened, well I guess you can just imagine what they might do to me. Who are these people you're talking about and just what is it they're up to? Oh, so carefully. Yeah. Yes? Ms. Daner? Hello? Hello? Hello? Well now, dollar, don't be a sucker for a... and yet... I wonder. The exciting adventures of the man with the action-pact expense account. America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Act one of yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Submitted by special investigator Johnny Dollar to the Greater Southwest Insurance Company Home Office, Los Angeles, California. Following is an account of expenses incurred during my investigation of the Big H matter. Expense account item one, 275, long-distance telephone called a Hollywood 82124. That is to say the office of Royal J. Harkins Contact Man of Greater Southwest Insurance in Los Angeles. It was late in the day, but luckily he was still in his office. Nice to hear from you again, Johnny. What can I do for you? Roy, I'm putting this call on expense account. Well, that ain't all. If I could make connections down to New York, well let's see. There's a plane leaving for the West Coast a little after midnight, so I'd arrive in LA early in the morning. You coming out here? Unless somebody's been pulling my leg. Roy, do you have a policy holder named Helen Daner? Yes, we certainly do. Well now, what's that mean? She's house north of here. Johnny, she called this office early this afternoon. She demanded your phone number there in Hartford. And? Well, I didn't give it to her. Why not? Because she wouldn't say why she wanted to get in touch with you. Oh, fun. And knowing how busy you always are, well, I began to wonder about it. Yes? Well, after all, if she wanted to contact you about some insurance matter. Yeah. What? Well, did you call her back? That is, I tried to, but I got no answer. Then Roy, I'm going to grab that plane I was talking about. Well, now wait. Did she get to you? Did you talk to her? Yes. And it has something to do with her insurance? Plenty, so I'm flying out there, Roy, at your company's expense. Now, just a minute, Johnny. Unless, of course, you'd rather pay off her insurance to some beneficiary. Johnny. Then just be sure to have a rental car waiting for me when I pull into the airport. Item 2, 162.85 plane fare. The big mainliner took off from New York's International Airport promptly at 12.30 a.m. At 6.30 Pacific time, I stepped off the plane at LA International. This way. Oh, hi, Roy. I didn't exactly expect you to be here in person this early in the morning. Well, I am. I got a rental car ready and waiting for you out at the curb. Good. Good. But listen, you still haven't told me what this is all about. Because I'm not too sure myself. But you sounded over the phone as though something's happened to the old lady. Miss Helen Daener, I mean. That's exactly the way I meant it to sound. And since I still haven't been able to get her on the telephone. Well, what? What's happened to her? I don't know. That's my car. That's right. Oh, start making some sense, will you? I wish I could. Well, do you actually know that something's happened to Miss Daener? Nope. But if it hasn't, I've got to do everything I can to prevent it. Johnny, prevent what? Roy, I only wish I knew. Johnny. Johnny. Next to an excellent highway and light traffic, I made good time through Santa Monica, then Santa Barbara, even past the famous Pismo Beach. It was just afternoon when I pulled into Morrow Bay. When I stopped for gas, that's item 3, 420, I looked up Miss Helen Daener's address in the local phone book. It turned out to be a modest little frame house about half a mile south of Morrow Rock on the landward side of the bay. It had some nice, well-kept flower beds in front, and at the back, I could see a small, rather decrepit dock that stuck out into the bay. A brand new expensive automobile was parked on the street in front of the place. Hardly the kind of car you'd expect the sweet old lady to be driving along. Well, there was only one way to find out. Miss Helen Daener? No, I'm Betsy Daener, Helen's sister, and who are you, young man? Johnny Dollar. I'm from Hartford, Connecticut. Is your sister... Oh, yes. I've heard Helen speak of you. You're no friend of hers, aren't you? Well, yes, I guess you... Won't you come in? Well, is she here, Miss Daener? Well, she ought to be back from the market any minute. The market? She hasn't been at all, well, you know. That's why I've come to live with a sort of take care of her. I see. But I did think it was all right to let her walk down to the market this morning. Would you like to come in and wait for her? Which market, Miss Daener? Well, it's the first one down the street. Now, do you see it? That little supermarket, just two blocks away. Oh, yeah, I see. So if you'd like to come in and wait... No, thanks. I'll pick her up there. Well, but Mr. Dollar... Thank you very much. Mr. Dollar! There was something very funny here, but I wasn't sure just what. Well, maybe I'd just fallen for some gag on the part of a fan on my radio program or wanted to see her favorite heroine person. In any event, there was one sure way to find out from Miss Helen Daener herself, and if she was still at the market. But as it turned out, I got that well-known kick in the face. Well, of course I know Miss Helen Norwell, sir. Then would you please point her out to me? Miss Helen? Miss Helen Daener? That's right. Oh, but she isn't here, sir. Oh, then perhaps she went to some other store. Most certainly not, sir. What? We deliver everything that she orders to her little house up the street. Well, that still doesn't prove anything. Well, you see, Miss Helen hasn't been out of that house for weeks. Hasn't budged. You're... you're sure of that? Why, of course I'm... Well, what's the matter, sir? Of yours truly, Johnny Dollar and the Big H matter. If all Miss Helen Daener who telephoned me in Hartford asked me to come out here to Morro Bay in California. If Miss Daener hadn't budged from her little house in weeks, why had her sister told me she was at the market? Could all this somehow tie in with the people, the terrible people she tried to tell me about on the telephone? I jumped into my car and drove back to the little home on the bay. That's right. Now where is Helen Daener? Oh, sister came back while you were gone. Came back without my seeing her? Now listen, I was... Yes? Well, the manager of that market said it to he if she hasn't been out of this house for weeks. To the supermarket. Well, where else? And just because she isn't shopping there anymore. Oh, now look, Miss Daener, you told me... But won't you come in? I think she'll be terribly disappointed if you don't. You see, she's told me all about you now. In the couple of minutes I was away from here. An insurance investigator, I think it's awfully thrilling. But now come in and see her. I think she's been kind of expecting you. Yeah, and if you'd like to know what I think, Miss... Good lord! In the middle of the tiny living room was a heavy open armchair. Sitting in a tied down to it was a sweet-looking gray-haired lady of maybe 70 or 75. A handkerchief was lashed tightly across her mouth, and the eyes behind her old-fashioned steel-rimmed glasses were filled with tears and a look of utter despair. I swung around to her so-called sister and was struck by two things. She seemed to have suddenly lost about 20 years, her face wore an unpleasant smirk, and in her right hand was a 38 aimed at me. Don't move, Mr. Dollar. Gun is not only loaded but cocked, and it has a hair trigger. Stand perfectly still because it'll be right in the middle of your back. So, while I take away your gun, I'll sit over there in that chair against the wall. You'd better do as I say, Mr. Dollar. You may have to wait a little while, so get one thing straight. Any move, any tricks, and I pull this trigger. Mind telling me what we're waiting for? You'll see. And why you've tied her up that way, that is Helen Dana, isn't it? Why, what's the matter, honey? Getting a little short of breath with that gag in your mouth? Then why don't I take it out for you? No, Dollar. Not a single move. Just crossing my legs. Sure. Here now, honey. I don't want you to conk out on it. After all, you may be of some use before we're through with this caper. There you are. Johnny, Johnny, I don't know what these terrible people they sneaked in while I was fooling you. Yeah, Helen, I guessed that. If only you hadn't come, but I thought you, I thought maybe. They're smugglers, Johnny, of the worst possible kind. You tell them, honey. They'll have to kill time while we're waiting for Pete and Dollar. Okay, okay. They're smuggling in narcotics heroin from the way down in Mexico. Oh, pretty smart picking a spot as far up the coast as this. Only I'd known when this man, Pete, asked if he could use my dock. He said it was to tie up his boat at night when he came in from fishing. How did you get out of them, Helen? When they saw I turned my lights up so early every night, they thought I was asleep. But I wouldn't notice he wasn't taking fish off his boat, but little cans of heroin. Heroin. Then Bessie here, who can look so sweet when she wants to. Why, Helen, I thought I was pretty sweet. Then Bessie would meet him with her car. How did you know it's Heroin? Because they told me they'd use it on me if I don't, if I don't behave myself. Which is a lot better than you'll get, Dollar. And besides, Johnny, Johnny. Yeah. I found a little of it that was spilled on the dock. And I remembered how you described it once when you caught a man bringing in the terrible stock. Yeah, she's a real smart old bitty, except when she phoned a U, Dollar, and we caught her at it. We can handle her all right. With a little H in her veins, we can even let the neighbors see her now and then. And with me acting as her sister, taking care of her. Oh, listen. Here he comes now from the doctor's. Relax, Dollar. The charming little party. Nice work, Bessie. Dollar, huh? That's right. You want to take care of him, Pete? So you made the mistake of coming out here. Believe me, Mr., it was a mistake. I said, are you going to take care of him? Well, of course, right away. We don't want him lying around here. Which is to say, Dollar, we're going to do something I haven't thought of since the old days in Chicago. You and I are going to take a little ride. Act three of yours truly, Johnny, Dollar. Take a little ride, huh? That's right. Chicago style. Exactly, Dollar. Oh, Johnny, don't you see what that means? He's going to take a ride. All right, all right, honey. Just keep out of it. No, I won't. Pete's going to kill him. That's right. Now shut up. Well, not just about you. Sit down. Bessie, be sure you keep the gun on him. Oh, don't worry, Pete. I had a silencer, though. I'd get rid of him here and now. Has it occurred to you, Pete, that I may have left word with them that if I'm not hurt from it? Ah, don't try to be cute, Dollar. Sure it occurred to me. I dismissed it for the simple reason that you couldn't possibly have had any reason to know what you were getting into out here. So forget it. What are you going to do with him, Pete? Well, whatever it is, we'll have to wait till after dark when this one-horse town closes up for the night. Well, then what? Well, I've got to be sure the Dollar's body won't be found until I... Shut up. ...until we're through with this operation. That means a weaker... Wait, I got it. What, Pete? Up on Cayucas Beach. Cayucas? Yeah, the little town five or six miles north of here. There's a big pile of rocks, a big cave in them. Nobody'd ever think of looking in there. So as soon as... Now, what are you doing? Just digging out a cigarette. If you don't mind. No, sure, go ahead. But this is one time the condemned man won't enjoy a hearty meal. Johnny, Johnny, isn't there anything to think I got you into this? I told you to shut up. Listen, I told you and all you don't... Finish him off, Pete. No. Now we'll wait for dark and do it right. I guess he had really slugged me because by the time I fully came to it was night. I was in the back seat of a car driving along the highway beside the ocean. Pete was at the wheel. Beside him leaning over the back of the seat watching me was Bessie. And the 38 in her hand was aimed straight at my head. You're sure the old lady won't be able to work herself, loose Bessie? I'm sure. We'd had any sense, Pete. We would have brought her along in this ride too. But it saved us a lot of trouble late. So you've woke up, darling. Yeah. Yeah. Just stay put in that back seat. Any funny business? Now, I said any funny business. Just... Just trying to dig out the cigarette. Just stay back in that seat. Yeah. Yeah. Figure eyes off me for a second. Or the gun either. As clumsily as possible, I struggle with a pack of cigarettes rolling and squeezing it and hoping the tobacco is funny dry. Then having apparently failed to pull out a cigarette, I turned the pack upside down over my hand. Yeah. The fine tobacco poured into it. I took a deep breath. It's a matter, darling. You need some help with that. Oh, no! No! At least she dropped the gun and put her hands to her eyes, now filled with tobacco dust. With what little strength I had, I picked up the gun and slammed it against the side of Pete's head. Oh, no! It's a trailer jobs who pulled off the highway to give us a hand. Yeah, somehow those boys are always around when you need them. And he used his head. When he found my credentials in my pocket, he saw the whole picture in a flash. So he hailed down the first police car that came along and turned both Pete and Bessie over to them. Ms. Hallentainer, plus her heart, this spunky little old character was tickled pink to be involved in the whole thing. Yeah, she just can't wait to go to court and testify against those two. Expense account total, including the trip back to Hartford, 447-45. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. All right, I'll tell you about next week's story. Next week? Well, so help me. It's the wildest case I ever got messed up with. Join us, won't you? Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. It's in Hollywood and is written, produced and directed by Jack Johnstone. Heard in our cast were Peggy Weber, Virginia Gregg, Bartlett Robinson, Joseph Curran's and Russell Thorson. Be sure to join us next week. Same time and station for another exciting story of yours truly, Johnny Dollar.