 Sure, I'm Pat Novak for hire. That's what the sign out in front of my office says, Pat Novak for hire. Oh, there are a lot of ways to put it, but it's easier if you let your slip show right from the beginning. Because down in the waterfront in San Francisco, you've got to do a lot of things to make a living. Otherwise, it's like being a CPA and a charity ward. I rent boats and do anything else that'll keep a bum lawyer in beer and broad cloth. Works out all right. You'll make a few bucks if you don't forget there are only two questions you can ask anybody down here. When and how much? Even then, you got to watch out unless you like your trouble without a chaser. I found that out Monday night. I closed shop and I walked down the street to a Noonan's bar. It really isn't a bar. Just a couple of stools with a bottle opener and a jukebox full of Irish tenors, but it's good enough to give you a shove down the road. Must have been about eleven. I was sitting at one end of the place by myself sorting out mistakes and spending a half dollar on the bar, so I don't know when she came in. But she came in. I don't remember that. Does it always come up heads? If you're lucky, who are you? If you're that lucky, you'd have dollar bills to do with wheels. Look, I'm low on chatter. Why don't you go down the counter and talk to the racy set, huh? I'd rather buy you a drink. Noonan's a social clamor. He's going to throw you out. You'll buy me one then. And I'm broke to strangers. Now that winds up the conversation. See you later. We'll talk Thursday then. I went to your office, but they said you were over here. I want to hire you, Mr. Nowak. You got a name to go with the figure? It won't fit in your file. I want you for three hours work tomorrow afternoon. Can you do it? I said yes. It might be too tough. There's a flower stand at the corner of Post and Kearney. I want you to go to that stand tomorrow afternoon at two o'clock. Pick up a geranium, please. I'm too big for a Western Union boy. Are you too big for fifty dollars? No. Must be a pretty geranium at those prices. Some people love nature, Mr. Nowak. Do you care? No, I know a guy who likes parents. You go to the stand and tell them you want the plant. Take it straight to the address I gave you. It's important. Don't let it out of your hands. For fifty bucks, I'll act like we're married. I better give you the money now. You're eager. I suppose I don't deliver. I found you tonight. I can do it again. Well, where do I get in touch with you? You don't. Mr. Nowak, this is the last time over the course. They'll take her good luck now. Yeah, I'm away past midnight already. I suppose something goes wrong tomorrow. Then it's very simple, Mr. Nowak. You won't have to send for flowers. Good night. I watched her as she turned and walked out the door. She was wearing a flowered print dress, and as she walked, the roses kept getting mixed up with the daisies. She walked with a nice friendly movement like the trap door on a gallows. As she reached the door, she turned and smiled once, as if she knew the fifty bucks was just for laughs. I scooped up the dough before anybody could see it, because it ruins everybody gets broke in one motion. I left a few minutes later, and I went home to bed. I dreamed real good on fifty bucks, so I felt good the next afternoon when I got to the corner of Post & Kearney. The flower stand was there all right, and I leaned against the storefront to watch the guy for a while. Maybe I should have known then, because right away I got the idea he didn't know what he was doing, but you can say that for a lot of senators. So I let it ride. When the Jewish store clerk across the street said two o'clock, I walked up to him. Can I do something for you? Yeah, give me a geranium plant. What kind do you want? A big one, a small one, I don't care. It's two o'clock. I'll take that kind. You want a geranium? Look, it's going to get dark. You got that long to argue? Here's the one you want then. You say so. You want to wrap it? No, it's all right. You carry it that way. Well, I'm going to look real funny walking around with a handful of geranium. Why do you want one then? Well, I see. You don't feel like talking about it. No, just take it and be happy. Yeah, how much? Nothing doesn't cause a thing. Suit yourself. You won't make much dough that way. I make even less talking to you. Just take the plant and be careful. How do you know what I'm going to do with the geranium? I don't, mister. Some people eat them. Just be careful and goodbye. All the way things were going, Post Street began to look like the main dragon, Casablanca. I watched the guy fumble around with a customer for a minute and then I crossed the street and started up toward Union Square. The cop gave me kind of a funny look when he saw the geranium. He smiled as if he thought I had a pair of dancing sandals in my coat pocket. About halfway up the block, I stopped to look in an art store. Right then, I noticed the guy with a cane for the first time. He was standing near me, looking in the other window. He was a little guy and kind of wrinkled and bumpy. His skin looked like a cucumber full of powder. I started up the street and pulled into the bookstore. He stopped too and I knew he was following me. When I got to Stockton, I turned left and walked toward Geary Street. Halfway down is a low street called Maiden Lane. Oh, it sounds gentle, but so does Vesuvius when you say it fast. I just started across when a black gnash pulled away from the curb. Some dead relative must have put in a good word for me. All right, mister. Yeah. Yeah, I'll do, I guess. You're lucky you're not dead. Yeah, we're all that way. Give me a hand, will you? Oh, thanks. That car came out of there and hit you on purpose. You're lucky you're not dead. All right, I owe the house a free roll. This lady here took down the license number. You want it? Yeah, thanks. You sure you're all right? Yeah, I'm a slow bleeder. I dropped a plant somewhere around here. This it? This bedding? Yeah, that's it. Thanks. It didn't even hurt the plant. That's something. You know, when I saw that car come out of there and hit you, you know what I thought about you? That fellow's lucky he's not dead. Yeah. Yeah. Hmm. Well, I looked around, but the little guy with a cane had disappeared. As I crossed Union Square, I kept looking around, but he was gone. Well, I tried to forget about it, but I couldn't get it out of my mind. I kept coming back and showing up again like a bad reputation. Why had the guy started to follow me and then stopped so suddenly? How about that guy in the car and that $50 geranium? Well, I got a cab over at the St. Francis stand, and I rode out to the address that the girl gave me. On the way, I looked at the flower. From what I could see, it was just a geranium planted in a little wooden box. Like all the rest of them, it bloomed unevenly with buds that looked too nervous to come out like a debutant with thick ankles. When the cab pulled up at the address, it was a roaming house out on Clay Street. And the note I had said third floor rear, so I went up there and knocked. There was no answer, so I went in expecting to find anything, anything but what I did find. Hello? Go away. Go away and leave me alone. She closed her eyes and stopped talking. She was so sick it showed like a searchlight in a cave. Her complexion was pasty on the color of a November sky. She had no expression on her face, just thin lips, gone so tightly the rims were white. She wasn't ready to quit yet, but you could tell she'd been papering the house for years. And you wouldn't want to bet on her. She was going to last about as long as a warm snowflake. It was easy to tell. You got a bad cough. You need some sun. I need more than that. Yeah, I guess you do. Who are you? Relax, I'm not the welcome angel. I just brought you some flowers. Is it a joke for somebody? I don't know, lady. With me it's a $50 hustle. You're a flower, so you work out the right answer. Go away. Go away, please. You want the flowers? You brought them for me, didn't you? Leave them and go away. It was just a geranium. I'm going to leave it on the table. Why'd they send you? My reason was $50. Did you come to hurt me? I don't know, do you rate it? Oh, I'm too tired. You couldn't really hurt me, could you? Thank you for coming. Thank you for your kindness. Sure, if that's what it is, you're welcome. That's all she said and that's all that happened in that little room up on Clay Street. It wasn't much and it wasn't enough to worry you, but for some reason I felt like a man in quicksand complaining about his height. When I left there, I took a car down to Market Street and I had dinner. Well, it didn't go right because I kept thinking about this afternoon and last night. Who did she mean by they? And where did all these people fit together? The guy with the cane, the gal, it gave me the 50 bucks and the little chair about a maiden lane. I tried to forget about it, but it wasn't easy. It was like trying to change a typewriter ribbon with mittens on. After dinner, I went home. It was about 8 o'clock and when I got in the apartment, it was dark. Before I had a chance to put on the light, I knew somebody was in the bedroom. I walked over to the door. In the dim light, it looked like a walrus in pants, but it turned out to be Inspector Hellman from Homicide. Hello, Novak. I just dropped in for a chat. You always chat with your hand in the bureau drawer? It's restful. I've been looking over your stuff. Is this a social call or are you out stealing? Where you been, Novak? What do you care, Hellman? All right, I'll tell you where I've been. It's the same one. Your fingerprints are all over the joint. I'll bet you checked everywhere. What were you doing out there? Delivering flowers. Is that your best try, Novak? It's the best I'm going to do for you if you don't like it. Check with a woman out there. I brought her flowers and left. What woman? The one on the couch, a black-haired girl with a half-dead look. You're wrong twice. There's no girl out there unless she's tattooed on the guy's chest. And that guy doesn't have a half-dead look. It's better than that. All the way. That's right. He's dead enough to pray for. Will that do? Hellman's sleeve so full of fat I didn't expect anything else up there. He flipped on the light, and I could see he was real pleased with himself. He was smiling like a guy who's just found his partner bidding no trump with 13 spades. He sat down on the bed and unbuttoned his coat, part of his stomach oozed out and hung over his belt like a 1910 lampshade. He lit a cigarette, and then he began to run his tongue over a set of teeth that looked more like old mandolin pegs than teeth. He blew smoke and looked about as appetizing as a piece of squid pie. Must have been a short argument, Novak. The coroner says the guy checked out in a hurry. What else does the coroner say? That it was good poison. You buy only the best, Novak. Don't stub your toe, Hellman. I went up there to deliver a geranium plant. So far you got a good case. The guy was poisoned with a spring needle hidden in that geranium box. Who was he? He didn't say, and there wasn't any identification. Do you want to help? I don't know, Hellman. When I was there, we were doing cameo. Some ghost woman was dying on the couch by inches. It was her room. You better check. We did. The room was rented ten days ago by a man named George Langley. The landlady says there's never been a woman in the room. That's what all landlady say. Wake up, Hellman. I stood there and watched her shake like a dust mop for ten minutes. You can follow up on her and then check that floor stand at Kearney and Post. What do I check for? Bowl waffles? He's the guy that gave me that geranium plant. We'll check. And I want you down at headquarters by midnight tonight, Novak. You can talk to yourself till then. After that, you talk to us. I'll make it up from here, Hellman. You don't like it the other way. Suit yourself, Novak. You know when you do. In the meantime, we'll find out what we can. I can't wait that long, Hellman. You couldn't find a tractor on the back porch. I'd hang if I waited for your boys. That's what you're going to do. And at midnight, you can dangle as high as one. I don't mind as long as my feet are on the same level as your head. When Hellman left, I sat down to try to piece things together. I knew everything was there if I could just shove it into place. It was like trying to swap an eggbeater for a mixed master. I was pretty sure there was something about that geranium plant I should remember. One little thing that threw everything else out of focus. Well, I finally gave up. I was fifty bucks ahead and one murder wrapped behind. It depends on how you like your fun. Fifty bucks is alright, but the pleasure is limited. Like giving somebody a hot foot in an ammunition dump. If I was going to drag the town, I needed help. So I looked up the only honest guy I know. An ex-doctor and a boozer by the name of Jaco Madigan. Oh, he's alright for a guy who thinks people with steady hands are lazy. I finally found him in a little tinsel joint on Mason Street. It was high class for the neighborhood. The smoke was only a week old and they had a cigarette girl. A long, leggy biscuit that watered around trying to sell a sour smile at sweet prices. Jaco was down at the end of the bar rolling some olives back and forth. The rhythm was fine. Ah, Patsy, you're just in time to help me off the wagon. A stout glass for Mr. Nova. No, I want to talk to you, Jaco. Patsy, confidentially I hate martinis. I just drink them for the vitamins. Everybody should have a few vegetables and I have chosen olives. Look, I'm in trouble, Jaco. Will you sober up and talk? I could do that easily. I've done it two or three times and it's no trick at all. But I refuse because it's a vulgar display of willpower. Will you stop, Jaco? You know, Patsy, there are only two things that could cause my downfall. Whiskey or women. I'm not particular. You find a nice old widow and I'll quit this stuff. All right, all right. Some plump old party with a memory is vivid as my own. Preferably, if somebody rich enough to convince me the lines in her face weren't put there by worries. Stop it, will you? Patsy, I'll allow you to motivate my dissent. But I will not permit you to bring it to a halt. I apologize for interrupting. Go ahead. What do you know about flowers? Oh, I think they're pretty on a woman's shoulder, but I suppose that's mixed devotion. Why? Well, I'm going to need your help, Jaco. There's a dead guy out on Clay Street in Hellman's campaigning for me. How do the flowers fit in? A geranium plant. The guy was poured with a needle in the box. I took the plant up there to a woman. What clumsy approach. Why a geranium plant? It's a mixed-up story. I got hired in Noonan's bar to pick it up this afternoon at Post and Kearney. I got gum-sued all the way up Post Street and hit by a car at Maiden Lane. You look bent when you walked in. I took it out to this address and I gave it to a dying woman. Now she's disappeared and Hellman's after me for the dead guy on her floor. Oh, I need some help, Jaco. I got to find a way out of this. Well, you passed up a golden opportunity when that car hit you. That's one of the places you come in. Now, here's the license. I want you to hop down and check the registration, will you? What is? Find out who runs that flower stand at the corner of Post and Kearney. Now, if you get back in time, I can check tonight. Tagged by my place, I'll either be there or I'll leave a message. Where are you going? To find a woman. That seems like a peculiar way to handle a crisis. Well, I got to find a gal that started me out on this. Patsy, I wish you'd forget about women. And I wish you'd forget about whiskey. Ah, yes. We both have our problems. Except I enjoy one safeguard that you don't. At least I can look at the label and tell how old it is. Good night, lover. Well, I got out of there and I went by Noonan's place. I asked him if he knew the girl in there last night. He said after 45, a man forgets about a woman's face, so I checked that lead off and started on the other girl. I hit all the cab stands out near Clay Street, and I finally found a hack that picked her up. It was about four o'clock, he said. She had luggage and rode over to Janet Street on Telegraph Hill, but he couldn't remember the address at the best rates in town, so I checked off that one, too. From here on, it was going to be a rough ride. I didn't know where to dig. I might as well have been out looking for a stick with one end. I like to try one more thing. I went by to search the Clay Street joint. It was a dirty room and the geranium hadn't helped. It was a sweet odor and a thick, dusty cloud all over the place. It was like going to sleep in a bag of an old vacuum cleaner. There wasn't anything there that could help, and on my way out, I heard footsteps. I snapped off the light and waited. The door opened slowly. I couldn't see your face, but I knew it was the girl from Noonan's. Turn on the light and you'll see your friends. Well, Mr. Novak. Sit down. Let's talk. In here? Why don't we drop our gymnasium and get some fresh air? We can start with your name. It's easy. Say your piece, Mr. Novak. I've run out of $50 bills. Yeah, that's the way it is with my patients. Who killed the guy? I don't know, Patsy. I can narrow it down to one county for you, but after that, you'll have to do your own sorting. The police think I did it. Maybe you did. You look big enough to carry the load. I don't care, Patsy. I'm not going to weep. I've got about three tears left, and he isn't high enough on the list to rate one. Who was he? And how'd you find out he was dead? He's generally a dirty ribbon, the wash bowl. His name was Charles Dowd. Don't worry about him. He was a small-time guy at the Fast Museum. Well, I'm going to worry about him, because homicide's worried about him. Then worry in a calm way, Patsy. You do it that way, I'll help. Sit down. Now, look, lady, you better help out, or I'll lose your teeth for you. Patsy, you're tough. And everything I can. Who runs that flower stand? It wouldn't help. When he gave you that uranium, there was nothing wrong. For 50 bucks, I had to be something wrong. It wasn't full of poison. I know it was in there, and it wasn't poison. Somebody made a switch up here. What happened to the girl? I don't know. Relax. You're going to use up all that nice energy. Look, sis, you can haul in those long legs and give me some answers. I'm going to haul them in long enough to ask a few questions. My turn now, Patsy. Back over toward the door. You can talk on your way. You look good with a gun. You made a deal with George. I want to hear about it, no fact. I don't even know George. If he's got a part, you just dealt him in. I'm too old for fairy tales, Patsy. George got to you and found out about that uranium box. It couldn't have happened any other way. Sorry, lady. Remember, you have nothing to me, no fact. You're 50 bucks with a muscle. You're 50 bucks, and I'll spend you fast. Go easy. You're going to break open a seam. I don't know your boy, George, and I can forget you, too. You can do it while you're talking. I came a long way, Patsy. Too far to toss it over for a meal or a bum. You're just a passing pair of pants to me, and I'll throw you away faster than a wad of gum. Now's your chance, baby. Let's go. You're hurting my shoulder. Relax. You're not going to have one in a minute. Come on. Drop it. Now, reach down for that gun, and I'll jam you in the basement faster than a ton of coal. All right. Now, let's hear you talk. I would, Patsy, but you're not listening. What happens when you don't watch the door? Somebody falls in love with the back of your head. I didn't even have a chance to see who hit me. I don't know what good it would have done unless you're the kind of a guy who keeps a scrapbook on those things. When I woke up, I had company. He was taking a nap, too. Only his was going to last longer. It was the little guy with a cane. He tailed me right to the end. He was lying there with his mouth open and a bunch of paint gums showing as if he was trying to pick up a few bucks with a toothpaste ad. I was still groggy, and I couldn't see around the room, but I could hear a slow, steady, squeaking sound. I turned my head, and Helman was sitting in a rocking chair. He looked as happy as a choir boy on Christmas Eve. You have a good sleep, no vanquish? Oh, why don't they move the morgue down here? Yeah, I guess you ran out of poison. Why don't you go away, Helman? Home, maybe, huh? I don't know your wife anything, so I'll wish that. Who's the guy? I don't know. You look chummy when I got here. I don't know, Helman. He followed me all over Post Street this afternoon. Check him yourself. I did. There's nothing on him. I'll bet his gold fillings are gone now. Your trial run was a guy named Charles Dowd. I know. He was arrested in 1942 on suspicion of espionage. He's in business again. A whole bunch of them are, and the kicker has something to do with that geranium plant. What bunch? He's dead guys and a lot of others on the same schedule. It's that geranium plant. It all started at Post and Kearney. You better check that florist stand. Don't you ever get tired, Novak? Huh? We checked the florist stand at Post and Kearney. The answer is no. Did you talk to the guy? No, because there is no florist stand at Post and Kearney. You're crazy, Helman. I got a geranium plant there this afternoon. There's no florist stand at Post and Kearney. If you got a geranium there, it was grown out of a crack in the sidewalk. I left Helman standing there over the dead man. The little guy was looking up at Helman with a dull board, looked like an usher in a burlask house. I was sure now there was something about that geranium I'd missed. If I could find the string and pull it, the whole thing would unravel. The questions were piling up and there was only one answer. Who got to that box and made a switch? Well, it was close to eleven when I got back to my apartment. Jaco was in the kitchen working on an experiment. Ah, Patsy, I'm drinking to your memory. I'm making up for cheap booze with extra sentiment. What'd you find out? You were mixed up. There is no florist stand at Kearney and Post. Now, look, I've been through all at once. It was Post and Kearney. I couldn't have made a mistake. Well, anybody can confuse a street. It can be done easily. I once confused two whole suburbs. Yeah, all right. I boycotted a bar in Alameda for months before I found out they gave me the Mickey and San Carlos. Now, look, I know what I did, Jaco. Maybe the florist stand moved. Maybe it was never there before, but today it was at Post and Kearney. How about that license number? The car is registered in the name of George Langley. Who's he? He rented the murdered woman. He's mixed up in a switch on that uranium plant. What kind of switch? I don't know. But whatever it was, George did it. When it left that stand, there was something else in it besides a poison needle. Everybody knew it. The girl and the little guy with a cane, probably the guy that drove that car. They switched plans? No, they changed. Yeah. Yeah, I guess it could have done that too, huh? Why is the man with the cane behind you when you got hit by the car? Yeah, I think you're right, Jaco. He wasn't trying to kill you. In the confusion, the man with the cane switched plants on you. Oh, Jaco, you're an angel. I'm going to do something for you someday. You already have. I charged this bottle of whiskey to you. Yeah, no back talking. I got news for you. Mine's good, too. That poison needle plant was engineered by the little guy with the cane. Weird data. Well, he was due any minute. So it happened that way. Huh? That's where the other geranium is, Helman. You better get up there before they ring down the curtain. That other plant's going to draw all the boys and girls. What does that prove? Nothing, except you haven't got any business bothering a flower unless you're a bee. Well, it's a wild game like Red Dog, whichever way they fall, it's going to hurt. And the last card's the one that breaks your back. So when Helman hung up, I grabbed the cab and rushed out to Janet Street. It's a little short street, draped down the side of Telegraph Hill like a torn ribbon. When Helman pulled up at the top of the hill, I met him and we started down at George Langley's address. Helman opened the front door and as we started into the bedroom, we ran into a traffic jam. Oh, I'm sorry. Hello, E.B. This is Helman from Homicide. I don't have time now, Patsy. That's all you got, baby. Grab her bag there, Helman. Patsy, you're crazy. Open her bag, Helman. That's what they're all after. There's the geranium over by the window. Let's have that bag, lady. You're all too grabby. I'll take it. Come on, E.B. Who's this guy? Pixie, Helman. He's the guy that sold me the flower down at Post and Kearney. I'm sorry you got mixed up, Norback, but I'm sure don't regret tonight. Give me the bag, E.B. Go easy. We're going to get in too deep. You're in up to your nostrils now, baby. The bag. I want that piece of paper. You don't need a gun, Gerard. That's up to you, E.B. You double-crossed me and I'm too old for a new set of tricks. That's the way it had to be, Gerard. You can see that. When George cut in, there was nothing else to do. He was high man in, low man out. You're out then. I want the bag. Stay away from me, Jerry. Give me time. I'll get far away. I'm going to hang on to it. Stay away, Jerry. I hear you, but that's all, baby. Give me a hand, Patsy. You're going to need more than that, Angel. Help me to the couch. Sure. Come on. Here you are. Thanks, Patsy. You didn't know me that. I can't take it back now. How's Gerard? He bleeds big. I wasn't so tired. Let's laugh and laugh. No, I wouldn't do that, Angel. You're going to be there in time to hear the echo. What's in the bag? A formula. What other thing, Pats? Yeah. What other thing? What'd she say? I don't know, Helman. She took it with her. Where does that leave us? Short one girl. She's in the apartment or on her way up. You've got to look too hard, Mr. Novak. How many more are there? She's the big act. How do your friends look, sweetheart? They look the way they should. They watched me get sick. They didn't do anything about it. They said I was waiting for the last ounce of blood to dry up. You'd better go with Helman. Please take me while you have a chance. No. You're more than ready. I think they look wonderful. I was confused. He finally got the story off the girl in a hospital bed. All five of them had worked together once, gathering government information, but when the big order came, Double Cross set in like an epidemic. They were out after a formula. The dying girl had one half, and the other half was in that geranium plant. It came off the boat and went to that foamy flower stand. Evie and Gerard were afraid to deliver it themselves, so they hired me to do it. The sick girl was in on another frame. She tipped off Langley, and he worked that hit-and-run with Dowd, only he forgot to tell Dowd about the poison needle. When Dowd was dead, the girl checked out for Langley's place. Between them, they had the formula, but they got in a beef, so she killed him. She came back to plant a foamy lead for Evie, and that's how I got sacked. Evie tumbled and headed for Langley's place. When she left, the girl planted Langley next to me and that Roman then went back to watch Evie and Gerard in that overtime match. I guess he was too sick to care when we had the other. Well, Helman asked only one question. How come five such bad people ever got together in one shuffle? I don't know, except most people are full of a lot of good and a lot of bad. The day we met him, all the bad was showing. Horses Radio Service has just brought you Pat Novak for hire, starring Jack Webb. Pat Novak is produced by William P. Russo. Jaco Madigan is played by Tudor Owen. Inspector Helman is played by Raymond Burr. Music was composed and conducted by Basil Adlam. Be with us again next week when over most of these same stations we'll bring you Pat Novak for hire. This is the United States Armed Forces Radio Service, the voice of information and education.