 stand by for crime Chuck Morgan again you know in a city of the size of Los Angeles where I work as a newscaster and radio station KOP crimes occur so frequently and law enforcement agencies operate with such a maximum amount of efficiency but unless a crime has an unusual angle or twist to it it doesn't make particularly good copy from a news point of view well we had one of those unusual angle crimes in LA about a month ago wasn't just one crime was a whole series of them and what gave the twist was oddly enough lack of clues no telltale cigarette stubs no strand of hair or thread from a torn garment nothing it was uncanny I reasoned that if I could uncork the answer to this one I'd really have a story that would make good copy well I was on a Wednesday afternoon and I picked up Carol Curtis my blonde secretary at a downtown street corner Carol been going in for welfare work lately and have been attending a meeting I glamor post up in hi chubby boy Chuck I've just had the most wonderful experience that's all I've been watching a demonstration by some disabled veterans you know boys who are wounded in Korea yeah glamor post if I could crack this mystery crime deal I'd have myself a real story sure oh Chuck you really should have been there gosh it's amazing what they can do one boy's name is Johnny Owens he has two metal fingers for hands he can pick up a pencil and write shave himself tie his own tie lightest cigarette sounds interesting you know the thing that bothers me and the police department is that each one of these crimes is worse than the one preceding it if the mystery man keeps getting away with him he's gonna get cocky and murder someone just to make the cops look like monkeys and we will be in the soup oh gosh I hope that doesn't happen Chuck do you know what I think would be wonderful what if you interview Johnny Owens on the air let him do his demonstration and you could describe it oh it would give hope to so many other amputees sounds like a good idea look I'm gonna drop you off at the studio then go down to headquarters and have a talk with Bill Megs I knew you'd feel that way about it so I've already asked Johnny to come to your broadcast tonight you what you cute little rascal you five minutes later we reached the studio I put into a loading zone to let Kara out and saw Pappy Mansfield owner of KOP coming out of the building he looked concerned about something hey Chuck Chuck hey wait a minute hi Pappy what's wrong get out to North Hollywood as fast as you can there's been a murder Bill Megs is positive it's your mystery criminal yet it happened the address Pappy gave me was a two-story house in Kling Street when Carol and I of course glamour person sister than coming along when we got there it was late in the afternoon couple squad cars were parked out front there was a usual crowd of curious people the coffin got at the front door waived us inside we went up a flat of stairs and found Bill Megs in a room at the end of the hall hello Bill hi Chuck hello Carol thought you too to be along hi dear that finally happened there yeah this one's as bad as the others well what makes you so sure it's the work of your mystery criminal same deal no clues nothing to go on driving me batty fingerprints none look Chuck take it easy on your broadcast tonight really and don't worry about that fill me in huh who's the girl wanted to happen names Alice Carter she's a stenographer for a law firm over on Lancashire last night she was out on a date with her boyfriend got home late must have surprised the guy who murdered her what makes you think that all our jewelry is missing she'd recently inherited quite a lot of the stuff the way I figured is this house came in quietly so as not to wake the other people in the house sneaked upstairs in her stocking feet and noiselessly opened the door that's the reason she surprised a thief snitching her jewels and that's the reason he killed her that makes sense how about a boyfriend we've checked him he's clean well how about the other people of the house here place is owned by an old couple named Fairmont they take in rumors to help the budget the three other girls besides Alice and I've heard anything and I'm gonna think of a reason why anyone want to murder Alice except that she had $10,000 worth of jewelry lying around Carter Carter you know Bill I had an item on one of my broadcast last week about an Alice Carter inheriting some family jewels quite a well-known family in San Francisco that's right kid didn't have sense enough to stash him away in a safe deposit box huh want to see the body yeah yeah let's have a look if you don't mind I'll stay here okay good looking kid when was about to discover not till around noon Mrs. Fairmont didn't come in to clean until then I see what are those marks on a throat could have been made by a pair of hands could have been a bell or a cord anyway she was strangled which explains why she didn't get a chance to scream you haven't uncovered anything that will give you a lead yet Bill huh nothing except the fact that whoever did this job must have been a fair to Midland second story man probably a second story man aren't usually murderers true one over here stick your head out that window and look around yeah say what I mean yeah one a tree in the vine against the house still the guy would have had to been pretty good to make it how about footprints in the ground down below there aren't any well it sounds like the work of our mystery man alright I suppose you've picked up all your suspects the last two of them are done at headquarters now I have much hope just a bunch of good decent people like the murdered girl I feel like a heel even questioning them well cop has to do a lot of things he doesn't like so does a news reporter right now I've got to go back and write a story about this for my seven o'clock broadcast well thanks for giving me the scoop on this bill and don't worry about the way I'll handle it wanted to get away from there fast some time ago I'd used a night I'm about a second story man named Benny Murdock a two-time loser two months ago which is about the time the mystery crime man had begun his operations Benny had been released I knew where I lived and I wanted to talk to him just on the bear hope there might be some connection well I did my seven o'clock broadcast gave Carol some work to do and drove down to the address in Oxford Street where Benny Murdock lived it was a single family frame house rather the worst for wear a light showed in the rear window so I walked around back to knock on the door what do you want I want to talk to Benny's in who I say wants to see him Chuck Morgan Chuck well so you're him I don't know what you mean by that but I'm Chuck Morgan is Benny home not to you he ain't on your way you lousy squealer Benny don't want no part of get out of here I'll call a cop why don't you best how to save me the trouble what do you mean by that crack how do you know my name Benny mentioned your name several times when I interviewed him a couple of months ago and you can take that crack any way you want to where's Benny in here where is he none of your business okay best if that's the way you want to play hello Benny come on out and be sociable sure Morgan I was just gonna do that anyhow sit down make yourself comfortable anything I can do for you Benny are you gonna let this meathead guy get easy best there ain't no way to treat a guest what's on your mind mr. Morgan just a couple of questions Benny where were you last night when that girl up north Hollywood was murdered how do you like that shut up this I'll do the talking you want to know where I was Morgan sure I'll tell you I was playing snooker over at a Berman's you can prove that come on wait a minute a Berman's joint was closed up two weeks ago and no kidding any of your nuts you got an alibi tell the jerk you let me handle this mess right anything else you want to know Morgan okay Benny so you hate my guts we'll let it ride that way however get this through your head I'm down here to do you a favor nothing else you're down here to do me a favor yeah there's one for the book I'll just tell me about it Morgan I'm dying to hear the punchline sure I'll tell you the guy who murdered that girl was a second story man he was pretty good at his trade well that's me all right there ain't no better second story man in the profession than Benny Murdoch Benny are you going screwy or something Morgan here thinks you murdered the Bay don't let him let him think anything he wants got my reputation to think of somebody says there are better second story man than me they're crazy I can prove it did you prove it last night Benny don't answer him Ben this I don't want to have to tell you again to shut your trap you get over there behind mr. Morgan and don't speak to your spoke at now mr. Morgan what was his favor you were saying you're done for me it isn't much sooner or later Bill Megs is going to remember that you're the best second story man in the business and he might come around asking questions all so unless you've got the answers you better leave town you see best that's mr. Morgan's favor he's giving me a tip he's telling me to get out of town unless I got some answers you're a fool if you listen to him maybe I am maybe I ain't looks like mr. Morgan's a right guy after all he's given me plenty of time to take a powder if I ain't got the answers that's right buddy so I take it on the lambs so then the cops figure I strangle that babe in North Hollywood whether I did or not so they put out a dragnet and pick me up Morgan you got my everlasting gratitude for this favor you're doing me okay Benny how did you know the girl was strangled you see best the guy's clever to how did I know the girl was strangled he asks he don't figure I listen to radio read the newspapers I guess I didn't mention on my broadcast how that girl died I wouldn't know about that charm I didn't listen to your broadcast I listen to somebody else's you know Morgan I'm kind of glad you dropped it on us tonight you know why now tell me well I never forgot how you helped send me up that last time I used a while away to time and stir thinking what I do if I ever got things set up just right to pay you back so you think you got things set up just right now you put your finger on it pal things are set up just right now nobody asked you in here you forced your way ain't no cop and a man's got a right to protect his own home you all set best all set Benny so now I know that Benny had been play acting all the time he was a mystery man a crime and he wanted me to know it because the knowledge wasn't going to do me any good this was behind me and Benny it's certainly produced an ugly looking automatic don't move Morgan stay right where you are best let him have it best let me have it all right something hit me in the side of the head and comets began zooming around the room far far off I heard Benny yell hit him again this time enjoy this hit me again and I tumble to the floor still cling to a shred of consciousness Benny's leering face was above me I saw his foot swing back and dry forward and then a curtain of darkness closed down obscuring everything the ends of time later I saw stars dancing around in an endless circle and her distant sounds that were vaguely familiar I closed my eyes and opened them again the stars were still there I realized they were real I was lying on my back on the cold cold ground looking up at the firmament the sounds I've been hearing with the normal sounds of traffic I sat up and fell back again conscious of pains and aches all over my body after a while I tried it again this time the world stopped spinning and I managed to get up my lighter and look at my watch 1015 I've been out cold for more than two hours Benny had had his revenge with interest and now I was going to have mine I got to my feet staggered toward a streetlight a block away was a drug store somehow I made it the clerk stared at me pop-eyed as I swayed across the floor toward a phone booth I found a dime and dropped it in the slot this is Chuck Morgan I want to speak to Bill Megs Bill this is Chuck I've got your boy he's Benny Murdock the second-story man he's practically confessed yeah me first sucker was something I didn't like to think about worse there was nothing I could do about it which didn't help my mood any it didn't help it any further when I got back to the office and found Carol waiting there with a visitor oh Chuck I thought you'd never get here oh what happened to your face nothing look glamour bus I want you to dig up all the information you can understand Chuck first I want you to meet Johnny Owen hi son where's Papi Grammepers I'm Mr. Morgan say I'm glad to meet you I never miss one of your broadcasts they're swell thanks where's Papi Grammepers well I don't know now if you'll stop rummaging through that draw I think it might be a good idea if you and Johnny ran through your interview what what interview will you please pay attention this is Johnny Owens the boy I was telling you about who's Johnny owns the first time I ever heard his name what does he do golly I I guess I'd better be going you stay right where you are Johnny Chuck you take this script and read it or I'll quit then quit Chuck please listen Johnny's the amputee whose demonstration I saw this afternoon and oh gee I'm sorry son well that's better now are you ready for a run through I can't do it tonight Grammepers it's impossible there's a girl been murdered out in North Hollywood if I talked about anything but that I lose every listener I had you know that no I don't know it what Johnny has to say is more important to the American people and well just another murder look folks let me bow out of this one will you I didn't mean to cause so much trouble Mr. Morgan knows what's best for his listeners I'm sorry Johnny please forgive me there's nothing to forgive you for well I'll get along nice meeting you Mr. Morgan I'm sorry some but some other time huh yeah sure Chuck Morgan I should think you'd be ashamed of yourself don't speak to me I despise you and I'm quitting as of right now good night well this was great this was wonderful besides feeling like a sucker I now felt like a first-class heel well I did my 11 o'clock broadcast and I told my audience absolutely nothing more about the North Hollywood murder than they already knew well after the broadcast I drove out to Kling Street with the help of the cop on guard I examined the walnut tree in the vine outside the murder room window it netted me nothing except a few marks made by the murderer and his efforts to scale the wall I got back to my apartment about 1 a.m. and tried to get some sleep but that didn't work either around daylight I woke up in a cold sweat and from Carol she didn't answer I got dressed drove over to the apartment and spent 10 minutes beating on her door and I drove out to her mother's place in Encino she wasn't there either but exactly noon I got back to the office glamour push I've been looking everywhere for you where the devil you've been here what do you mean here I couldn't quit you haven't hired anyone else have you I'm a push you're wonderful of course I haven't hired anyone else you know I couldn't get along without you but I still think you're here and in polite and I'm ashamed of you yes and I don't blame you I couldn't sleep last night for thinking about it then you will interview Johnny sure I will get him down here for a run-through this afternoon if you want it oh Chuck do you mean certainly oh that's wonderful and next time the mind me to listen to what my very beautiful secretary has to say she's smarter than she looks what at least I felt a little better I took glamour push to lunch and afterwards she went out to get Johnny Owens and I got Bill Megs on the phone I get my ideas on the subject and then went in to talk to Papi at 2 30 p.m. Carol called to say she'd located Johnny now two of them would meet me at my office at three at three straight up they're right hello Chuck he is Johnny hi Carol hello Johnny hi Mr. Morgan Papi what are you doing here Chuck asked me to sit in Carol guys it's mighty decent of you to do this Mr. Morgan bill for heaven's sakes what is this did all you people come in for a free demonstration before we went on the air hit a monster that glamour push Johnny this is Papi Mansfield owner of KOP hello son nice meeting you Mr. Mansfield and Johnny this is Bill Megs hi mr. Megs hi Johnny Johnny bill is from police headquarters but I see then you know yeah I'm afraid we do Chuck what is it what's wrong you can't prove it you can't prove a thing I think we can't son no there weren't any clues we're no fingerprints nothing no they weren't any fingerprints there wasn't even a smudge of a glove that's that's why we began thinking of people without fingers Chuck Chuck it can't be true I I didn't mean to kill her I didn't she just stood there staring at my hooks and there was an awful look of horror on her face she couldn't move her speaks just kept staring at my hooks and something snapped inside me I just had to do it I just had to show that I could use those hooked like a normal person uses his hands that's why you're committed the robberies isn't it son you wanted to show people you could do everything that anyone else could do people always stared at me oh sure they'd watch my demonstrations and they'd say it was great but they wouldn't give me a job they pitied me they didn't have time or they weren't willing to listen if there was anything else they had to do like you mr. Morgan you didn't think it was important yesterday to have me on your broadcast well I showed you I showed you all Johnny you're right I feel almost as much guilt in this as you do it isn't you who murdered that girl out in North Hollywood Johnny any more than its eye and a lot of other people who couldn't take the time to listen and understand oh wait a minute Chuck let's take it easy martyrs murder Bill I know no I wish I didn't know Johnny you'll have to pay his debt to society but society's got a debt to pay the guys like Johnny Owens and I'm good as Johnny don't do it stand back all of you I don't want to demonstrate on you how a guy with hooks can handle a gun this is the end of the trail for me I'm glad it's over I've been trying to lick this thing ever since they shipped me out of Korea I guess I chose the wrong way I know it now but maybe I'll have helped some other men who might be thinking along the same line no wait a minute let me finish it's people like you mr. Morgan who are in a position to do us a lot of good remember that I'll remember it son and miss Curtis well I've never met a nicer person I wish they were more like her she didn't offer sympathy or pity she recognized that men like me are capable of doing your things any normal person can do that we're so reliant too bad I met her too late your lucky to have her mr. Morgan yeah I know it's okay miss Curtis don't you feel bad about me I'm doing what I know is right so I'll let you all take it from here so long everyone Owens is dead he blew his brains out while us standing there watching him and not being able to do anything maybe it's best I don't know maybe it would have been better if he died at Korea no that wouldn't have been any good some of those boys had to come back to show us poor smug dopes how I'm thinking and self-satisfied we are it's too bad Alice Carter had to be a guinea pig but that's life I guess or death I want you away you figure it the whole deal was a sorry mess happy Mansfield stuck around my office while I dictated the substance of my seven o'clock broadcast to Carol there were some questions that Papi wanted answered there must have been something besides the fact that there were no fingerprints to cause you to suspect the boy Chuck yeah happy there was the marks and Alice Carter's throat to begin with they might have passed her thumb marks and marks made by a belt or a cord but there were two sets of them the fact that meant nothing to me and her I saw Johnny's metal fingers anything else yeah I went out to the Kling Street house I looked at the walnut tree in the vine on the side of the building there were similar marks and both who else but a soldier trained to lick the most hazardous obstacle course could scale that wall so easily I see oh well that's the way things go oh by the way Chuck yeah and your seven o'clock broadcast you don't have to worry Papi don't worry I know how it handled good well I'll be getting back to my office don't take it too hard we won't happy so long happy he's nice Chuck yeah yeah he's well we haven't got much time it's after six I think I'll add lived this one glamorous just make a few notes okay Chuck you know honey self-respect is more important to a man than anything else he can lose most anything else even his arms and lick the handicap if he can hold his head up look at his fellow man on an equal footing in the case of Johnny Owens that was almost wholly the responsibility of his fellow man wasn't it yeah sure was clever but how blind can people be we thought we were doing our duty by watching Johnny do his demonstration and complimenting him and then pity him we forced him to prove he was our equal honey we owe so much to those boys so big a debt do you think we'll ever open our eyes and realize that we've got to help you're in a position to help Chuck more than anyone that's the last thing Johnny said yeah he said something else too glamorous yes Chuck tonight after the broadcast when I drive you home and every night remind me to tell you what a very swell person you are and I love you very much