 From Hollywood it's time now for Johnny dollar Dr. Bigby, I'm asking you for the second time now to come out to the Cronin place I told you last night mr. The circumstances are different now a lot different. We don't need a doctor. We need a coroner a coroner The operator told me the phone out there was out of order It is I'm at a forestry station a mile down the road Jason Prell cut the wires last night before he was killed Shot to death during the storm Yes, Mrs. Cronin said the same thing an hour or so before she died in a way, maybe Dr. Bigby Mrs. Cronin was murdered tonight and every weekday night Bob Bailey in the transcribed adventures of the man with the action-packed expense account America's fabulous freelance insurance investigators was truly Johnny dollar From special investigator Johnny dollar at the Cronin estate Wells Falls, New York to the home office shorty mutual and trust company Hartford, Connecticut Assignment the Cronin matter expense account final page Item 13 10 cents a half pack of cigarettes I left with a farmer who gave me a lift back from the forestry station The price of my own feelings at the moment would have been lower about 8 cents lower in fact I brewed another pot of coffee and sat down to wait for Bigby But this time I laced the coffee with brandy The Sun was up by then clear of the horizon bringing a bright new morning in a brand new day The storm was long over and the world sparkled and danced But too much of the night was still with me and the past still too much alive And yet maybe dolly Cronin was better off She was a part of that past now Where friends were always true every minute of life was even more wonderful than the last one And where she was still and forever the dancing darling. Oh hi, Sylvia I'm in the coffee business this morning. How about it having used with cream? I see bad night Shall I make yours the same way right? I had a bad night too? Thanks Hmm you look real beat John couldn't be any beater something pretty terrible happened last night, didn't yes Jason Prow is dead and Dolly Cronin is dead. Oh No, I loved her Johnny. I Didn't mean what I said last night about life always having been too easy for and you were right It's just being frustrated tied knots and covering up. I loved her. She was sweet Yeah, she was quite a girl She had something out of she had love she loved people and they loved her in return. Maybe so Anyway, I guess this belongs to you now The necklace the circle of fire What do you mean it belongs to me? She made a will last night. I witnessed it. She left the necklace to you I just can't believe it Johnny Can I? Can I put it on why not it's yours? She wanted you to have it? You look good in it. I just can't believe it Johnny Well before you get carried away too far, maybe it better brace yourself. Oh, it's not mine after all. Oh, it's yours. All right But it's not real What it's a good copy worth maybe four or five hundred dollars, but that's all I don't understand. It's so well known the circle of fire. It's been written up over and over Yeah from old records, but nobody's really examined it for years since before Barnaby Cronin died It's been locked up in a bank vault until I took it out. Was there ever a real one? Yes, originally But it was broken up and disposed of years ago Jason Pearl knew it was in on the substitution. I suppose That's why it was so desperate to steal it from me and get rid of it before I found out it was a copy He knew that if that deal came to light it would call attention to some of his other activities worse ones What do you mean? Pearl had complete charge of Mrs. Cronin's estate. He told me it was worth practically nothing But according to records I saw in New York had amounted to over a million dollars in the beginning He was stealing her blind all these years. Oh, it's easy. She was alone in the world knew nothing about business She trusted him thought he was her friend. She trusted everybody much too much Well, she sure trusted the wrong ones including her husband Barnaby What do you think disposed of the necklace and slipped her a copy after making such a big deal out of his fabulous wedding gift Phony and she worshiped the king in her book the man who could do no wrong Well on the business book. He didn't do much else but wrong According to the records most of his deals were pretty shady Especially after he and Prell teamed up Yes, Miss Atherton Dr. Bigby is here to see you All right showman Mr. Dollar, I wouldn't believe too much of what he says. He's a chronic drunk. Yes, I remember you telling me Show me man. Well, I was just thinking Johnny Mrs. Cronin didn't know any of this I assume no She was safe in her dream world and she thought she was giving me the real necklace. That's right It's crazy and kind of wonderful, isn't it just like that she gave me something she thought was worth a half a million dollars Just because I was nice to her and liked her, you know something Johnny what? I'm just as glad it is a copy It's beautiful and and I love wearing it. I'd have been scared of the real one And I'll always remember that Like that dream world of hers She thought it was real one more question left, but a big one the question of murder And I already had the answer I was sure of it and I knew there was nothing I could do about it Dr. Bigby was a man under 60, but he looked years older a harried man tired and worn He sat down for a moment. We talked I began to realize that here was another man who'd been under Dolly Cronin spell And it was shocked and hurt by her dying It was a remarkable thing and a difficult one to explain mr. Dollar Like many another I suppose I often wondered why I felt the way I did about it. It was a Sort of magic. She had yeah, I know Even as a girl here in the village. She had that same power and had it without knowing it everybody loved her No, not quite everybody at least one person didn't yes You mentioned on the phone the word murder. That's right. Dr. Bigby who killed her a man We can't touch because he's already dead Jason Prell Well, he's done about everything else. I guess I wouldn't put it past him What do you base it on mr. Dollar a bottle of pills? Prell supposedly went to Tupper's Lake last night and got a prescription fill for mrs. Cronin She took some of it this morning an hour and a half before she died There it is. I'd seen the bottle on the train coming up with a few tablets left on the same prescription and these are different Well, you're right on one count mr. Dollar Those aren't what the prescription calls for what do you mean one count? I talked to the druggist at Tupper's Lake on the phone last night. He told me about Jason being in all right It still stands he had the prescription filled and then changed the tablets substituted these it's possible Would you happen to know what they are without having them analyzed? I've got a pretty good idea But I'll wait until I've examined her before I'll say positively Mr. Dollar I'd like to explain why I wouldn't come out when you called me last night Yeah, I wish you would know I'd been drinking so I gathered I'd been drinking that other time too, and I'd made a mistake I didn't want to make another one Just what do you mean when Barnaby Cronin died here? I signed the death certificate. Yes. I know I hadn't treated him He was dead when I came out. I Called it a heart attack I Was drunk and I was wrong Barnaby was poisoned go on I didn't suspect it until later and then I was afraid to do anything about it I'd signed that certificate, and I knew it would break me so I kept still and I consoled myself with drink and Finally it broke me so the same end result was achieved Look dr. Bigby if Barnaby Cronin was here alone, then how was he poisoned alone? He wasn't alone when he died. She was here with him. Mrs. Cronin Of course not. Why do you think he was always making trips up here always by himself? I didn't know he was for years every week or to the whole village knew about it She was here with him that night. She's the one who called me asked me to protect her a good name She's the one who poisoned him and now she's had another try with the same poison But why ask her why ring for her and ask her? That won't be necessary Well, I'll go on up and make my examination Well miss Atherton I'm asking Why he was planning to break off our relation. He told me that night She'd finally won that silly little fool had finally won But I didn't let her win I Killed him. You're confessing the murder. You know it doesn't matter now I've accomplished everything I meant to accomplish So it was you who changed the tablets in her prescription bottle and substituted the poison of course It was so easy For once in my life things were just as easy for me as they'd always been for her Will you have the sheriff come out mr. Dollar? I'd like to make my confession It's odd how things work out sometimes mr. Dollar. Yeah, Mrs. Cronin said something like that last night I was pretty certain when you showed me the tablets, but I wanted to make my examination first What do you mean after Barnaby died and I started to suspect miss Atherton? I managed to steal the poison from her in order to analyze it I substituted harmless tablets of the same general appearance and those are what she's kept all these years What she gave to Mrs. Cronin. That's right. They were perfectly harmless But in that case dolly Cronin died from a heart condition the tablets had nothing to do with it In a sense dolly died the same way she lived from natural causes Expense account item 14 83 dollars and 90 cents incidentals and transportation from Wales Falls back to Hartford Expense account total 263 dollars and 30 cents end of account end of report remarks The insurance angle here seems a little muddy premiums were paid for years on an item that didn't exist And yet no claim was filed and none will be So Well, I leave it to your legal eagles me. I'm beaten tired and maybe a little sad I've come out of this with a kind of nostalgia and for a time and place. I never even knew And I'm halfway in love with a girl back in that time and place a girl. I've never seen Oh sure, I know it's a dream world and a dream girl and none of it exists But it's too bad. I wish it did Because she must have been a honey a real sweetheart a Dancing darling Yes, truly Johnny dollar Remember, please. There'll be a new exciting story on Johnny dollar beginning next Monday next week the story of a man worth $50,000 who didn't have a cent to his name Join us. Won't you? Yes, truly Johnny dollar yours truly Johnny dollar starring Bob Bailey is transcribed In Hollywood written by Les Crutchfield. It is produced and directed by Jack Johnstone Heard in this week's cast where Virginia Greg Shirley Mitchell Vivi Janice Barbara Fuller Benny Rubin John Daner and parley bear Musical supervision by Amarigo Marino. Be sure to join us on Monday night same time and station for another exciting story of Yours truly Johnny dollar Roy Rowan speaking