 ADVENTURES BY MORSE Caught in E. Morse presents Dead Men Proud Featuring Captain Friday If you like high adventure, come with me. If you like the stealth of intrigue, come with me. If you like blood and thunder, come with me. The mystery of violent death is securely cloaked in a great many curious and unpredictable phenomena. Your local police chief, if he would, could sit before you and unravel such harrowing tales as would congeal your blood. Tales of the living dead, tales of mental and physical baseness that even he does not like to think of. Experiences he speaks of with others of his profession in awe and wonderment. The weird unhealthy pranks the human body on occasion plays on its owner are facts that every law enforcement officer anticipates with horror. He knows that sometime in his career, he will meet with one of those mysterious unholy circumstances. He knows this and awaits it with inward trepidation. Dead men who live, living substance that seemingly is dead. All the unpleasantness that a man of the law keeps to himself. With this preface, we come to Captain Bart Friday and a certain Dr. Croft, walking on the sands of an isolated beach, late at night on a sparsely inhabited portion of the coastline across the bay from San Francisco. Captain Friday has a beach shack in the village of Holman, and he has brought Dr. Croft across for a restful weekend. About a mile to the village, did you say Captain Friday? Yeah, rotten walking too on a foggy night. Can't see your hand in front of you. Beautiful moon out tonight. How this moon eh, Captain? Well, where there should be a village on the beach so far from communication, two miles from a railway, not even a road in. Sort of a summer resort, only a couple of dozen families stick it out the year around. Regular old moss bags, they never leave. Yes, but no road. Well, they come in from San Francisco by boat. Do they have phones, have they? Yes, after a fashion. That is, the mayor's got a phone and the rest of the town folk go over to his place if they have to call outside. So the village of Holman has a mayor to aid. Very important personage. He's the village doctor, judge, and coroner, as well as mayor. Bravo. Now, look here, tell me Captain Friday, how in the world do you ever discover such a place? I have property over here. A detective with property? Well, that's not my fault. It was left to me by a great aunt or something. Can't I carry the bag for a while? No, no, no. It's not heavy, Doctor. Besides, you have enough with your medical kit. Why did you bring that along? Nobody ever gets sick over here. Even if they did, old Doc Sims would probably shoot you if you invaded his territory. Doc Sims? Well, that's the mayor, eh? And doctor and coroner. Got a sign out over his gate. Oh, no! We don't seem to be the only pebbles on the beach. Villagers? Don't seem to recognize them. Probably a couple from a resort. No, well, the resort's closed a week ago. Lasted the vacation crowd, cleared out then. Girl and a boy? Yes, they caught sight of us. Seems to want to join us. Unless the moonlight's awfully deceptive. That's a mighty pretty girl, Captain. Yes, isn't she? Why? She's just a child. Hey! What are you two doing out here on the beach this time of night? Queer? Perhaps they didn't know whether to answer or run away. I smelled trouble. Come on. Always the detective. Hey, just a minute, you two. Why don't you answer when you... Uh-oh. Say, Johnny, supposing you point that gun somewhere else. Please, Andres. Do you think this time I miss again? Andres, don't. These people are different. I don't know whether you'll miss or not, but I'll tell you this much. I'm covering your heart. One crazy move out of you and you'll never have the opportunity to miss again. If you think maybe you can frighten Andres Ruiz away from this place. Oh, nothing could have been further from our thoughts. Well, then why you sneak behind us and fraud us all around us, huh? Oh, did we? Someone did. And we saw you in the moonlight. Somebody's been trailing you? Well, something, yes. Andres shot at it twice, but... Missed, huh? Well, or else? Yes? There isn't anything that bullets can't hurt, is there? Who are you anyway? It seems to me you're pretty much a youngster. To be pralling about is a lonesome place at night. Sure thing maybe. I've got good protection for my cousin. I'm Carmel Ruiz. Andres is taking me to my uncle at Holman. Uncle? What's his name? Mr. Andrew Walters. Walters? Is that old Codger your uncle? What's the matter with him? I'd like to know. Say, I know you, Ruiz. You're the boy who arrived at Walters' place last week, aren't you? See, that is correct. Kept pretty much to yourself, haven't you? Never down in the village? Perhaps no business in the village. You say, Carmel, that Ruiz is your cousin and he's taking you to Walters? Is Mr. Walters also his uncle? Of course. You see, I haven't any people. I've been in a convent in the south. That's funny. You're cousins and yet one of you speaks good English and the other talks with a distinct accent. Is it not possible that one branch of the family should live in Mexico and the other branch live in California? I suppose so. Why the sudden family reunion? Uncle Andrew's getting old. Andres and I are both all alone in the world. So he asked us to come and live with him. He's lonesome. He needs someone to look after him. You came by train? Yes, the nine o'clock. Andres met me. Well, as long as we're headed in the same direction, let's continue together. How about it, Captain? Okay, perhaps if we know who you are, we should accept your invitation without so much misgiving. Oh, quite right. I am Dr. Jamie Croft of San Francisco. Oh, you're a doctor, eh? Yes, quite. This is Captain Friday. The captain's a private investigator. So? Yeah, bother you? No, he does not bother me. Well, shall we proceed? Where's your bag, Colonel? Oh, it came ahead of me on the boat. How far are we from home and now, Captain? About a quarter of a mile, something like that. Look here, Owey. About that fellow was following you. See? If you saw him closely enough to take a shot at him, must have gotten a pretty good look. Oh, yes. What did he look like? How was he dressed? Tall. Tall. Do you see his face? No, but he had on a long, black robe. Why? That's odd. Probably a long overcoat. Well, no, it wasn't. Was it, Andres? Without a doubt, it was not. It flowed out behind him. Yeah? And when the wind whipped it back from his body... Andres, please. Maybe we were mistaken. No, there is no mistake. Come on. What happened when the wind blew the robeside? There was... there was a skeleton underneath. Oh, see here. A skeleton underneath? Yes, there was. I saw it three or four times. It was all white and shiny under the black robe. Didn't you see his face? No. He had on some kind of a big, black hat. Wonder what graveyard he escaped from. Oh, you really think... Oh, no, not since childhood. What happened when you shot at it? Nothing, senor. He just flitted away behind the robes. And then we'd see him again. Some place where we wouldn't be expecting him at all. Career business? Imagination. Say, what about... Look! Look there! Where? Just someone lying on the beach. I don't know about that, captain. Doesn't look natural to me, sprawled. Let's have a look. You stay here. Supposing... supposing it's the one we saw. Wait here with the wreath. Yes. Yes, I wouldn't go near that one. Come here quick. Dr. Croft. Something's wrong, all right? I thought so. Don't look natural. Lying on his face. Help me turn him over. Hmm, body's still warm. Over. Easy now. Easy now. Hey, it's Doc Sims. Who? Doc Sims. You know, mayor, judge, coroner. Well, captain, Holman is going to have to have a new mayor. Dead, huh? Right. Murder? Well, offhand, I would say it's a natural death. Yeah? Well, this is going to be a seven-day sensation. It's the first death in Holman in 20 years. Too bad. Well, we've got a job. I'll hunt around and get a couple of sticks. We can fix up a makeshift stretcher with our coats and we'll take them up to the morgue. A morgue? Sure. Holman's got a morgue. Sims here billed himself. Corner has to have a morgue. I see. Two-story concrete building. White tile, everything. Only modern building in Holman. The man must have been morbid. Goofy. Here's a queer twist, too. Old Sims himself will be the first body to use it. Irony of fate. Captain. We'll be with you in a moment. Not a croft. I'll hunt up some poles for the stretcher you send this girl, Arnold Rees. All right, Captain. I'll join you in a moment. Rees, you better take your cousin and go on ahead. I'll see, senior. The senior is dead. Yes, he's dead. Tell us, then. Yes, you go on ahead now and Captain Friday and I will arrange to see you in the morning. Oh, please come. It isn't far, is it, Andre? See, it is not far, senior. Nothing is far apart in the village. Good. Now, don't frighten yourself. Everything will look much happier in tomorrow's sunshine. Good night. I'm sure it will. Good night. Good night, senior. And so it begins. Hi, Dr. Croft. Are you coming? Coming, Captain. You find your poles? A couple of lengths of driftwood. I'll do. Slip your coat off and run a stick through each sleeve. See? The way I'm doing. That's ingenious. Yeah, I guess that'll do. All right, let's lift him on. Over a little. I've got him. All right, down. I'll take the pole at the head. You take the feet. Quite an efficient stretcher, Captain. A good thing we haven't much further to go. Poles are none too strong. All right, up with him. He's not a heavy man, is he? By the way, Captain, is Holman proper right on the waterfront? Yeah, most of the houses front right on the beach. The one street runs back at the hill, right angles to the beach, and a few scattered houses back on the hill. The pitiful business. Having to break the news with the relatives? Not in this case. No relatives to notify. Really? Lives alone, eh? Yep. A neighbor woman did his housework, cooked his meals at her place, and carried them over on a train. Straightened up the place once a week. Want to rest? No. Doing very nicely. Yeah. Doc Sims didn't like folks much. Any enemies? Just old Andy Waters. The uncle of Carmel in Ruiz? Mm-hmm. Same fellow. Nobody likes him, though. Mean old skin-flint. Just a general dislike between them? No, no, something deeper. I hated each other like poison. Some kind of feud. There's a light in Walter's place up ahead right now. What was this trouble between Sims and Walter's? Oh, you know how it is. Two biggest frogs in this puddle. Both of them have money. Between them, they own practically all the land in this part of the country. Rivalry, eh? Yeah. Sims here have the edge, though. Just about ran the village, everyone that is except Walter's. Is that why you ask if it were murder? Not particularly. Being a detective, I guess I'm naturally suspicious. I see. We're running into Holman's main and only street. See that white building up there? Obviously. That's the morgue. Aren't we lovable to have the whole village tagging after us? Hardly. Must be ten-thirty. Everyone's been asleep an hour. I forgot we'd gone rural. Sight walks and everything, eh? Yeah, we'd better stick to the street, though. The board's in the Walker Rotten. Rival to go through and break your neck if you don't know where to walk. Rather harsh aspersions to cast in the administration, Captain. Yeah, well, he won't mind. We're carrying the administration and he's dead. Oh, who lives in that square box yonder ahead of us? Oh, at Sims Place. Come on, we'll cut through this lot, shortest way to the morgue. Good-looking structure, quite modern. You say it ever had a corpse, innit? No. Oh, by the way, we'll have to go into Sims' pockets for the key to the place. I'll leave that activity to you. Okay. Well, this is it. Let your end down. Ah, ah, here's the keys. You know which one? Oh, can't miss. This is the only door in town with a Yale lock on it. Wonderful. Electric lights. Oh, sure. There we are, all right? Now, let's go. Slabs in the back room. Nice introduction to home, and I must say, the first place I visit is the morgue. All right, floor it to the floor while I open the door and snap on the lights. A little light while we... Captain Friday, look. Hey, a body on the slab. I thought you said nobody ever died in Holmen. Another body on the slab. Interesting corpse, too. Yeah? Yes, it's been shot through the heart. Captain Friday brought Dr. Croft to the isolated village of Holmen across the bay from San Francisco for a weekend, a quiet weekend. But first they find an hysterical girl and boy, Carmel and Andres Ruiz. Then they find a corpse on the beach. They take the body to the village morgue and on the slab is a second body, a body with a bullet hole through its heart. Shot through the heart. You know who he is, Captain? Let me have a look. Sure, that's Rich Hartley's half-wit boy. Village half-wit? Half-wit boy shot through the heart. Now, isn't that interesting? See here, Captain, that's murder, pure and simple. Are you still certain old Sims here died a natural death? You think there's a connection? I can't see any reason why Holmen should go along death list for 20 years. What in blazes? Girls screaming, she's coming this way. Come on, this place needs a police department. Is that Carmel, girls? She's running down the road. Yes, with her cousin right after her. Better get out and stop her. She's insane with fear. I'm gonna have to shoot that Ruiz guy yet. Not yet. Dad! Stop it, Carmel. Stop crying like that. Oh, it's you, Senior Doctor. Hold that, Carmel. She's go crazy. Now, see here, Ruiz. Stop waving your arms like a madman. You frightened the child into hysteria. Me? Me, I have frightened it. What, Senior? I was only saving Carmel from destroying herself in the ocean. Yeah, we saw you chasing her, waving your arms, yelling. If you haven't frightened her, then what has? Oh, I forgot you do not know. Who's dead? This Senior Walter's, my uncle. What? Walter's too? See, it is true. We'd a rope about his neck in his room. You mean hang, Andres? What's going on in this place? Captain, is there anyone we can question? Sims housekeeper, old lady Parsons. Lights on in her house. That screaming and yelling is probably waking the whole neighborhood. Good. Ruiz, now take Carmel to Miss Parsons and then join us at your uncle's place. Are they certainty? Where's your uncle's body? In his room. Where's his room? It is the second floor front. The door, it is open. Miss Ruiz, we understand what a shock this is, but try to get hold of yourself. Take her along, Ruiz. Beastly, utterly beastly. Let's get up there, Croft. It may not be too late yet. Set the pace. I'll follow. This is the place. The door's open in this way. Second floor, he said. Running certainly not my 40. Yeah. Here's the stairs. Right behind you. Right. Careful. Darker than a coal bin. That's better. Lights on upstairs. He said the front room must be down that way. Yeah. Yeah, there it is. You've got a sharp knife? Yeah. There's a lot of boys scouting me. Joe, most unpleasant. They're right in here. Well, I'll be a son of a gun. Look here, Doctor. He's been cut down and left lying on the bed. Say, what kind of a show's going on here anyway? Hmm. He's past our help, Captain. Yeah. I can see that. What do we do now? Get him over to the morgue, I suppose. The girl, Carmel, won't want to come near the place as long as he's here. Exactly. Now, this is a light cut. Now, suppose we leave the body as it is and carry the whole thing down to the morgue. It's a good idea. Don't touch it any more than you can help. There might be fingerprints. Thinking of clues, eh? That's right. There can't be a natural death, a murder, and a suicide in a town of 30 people all in one night without something being the matter. That wouldn't be stretching coincidence, all right. Ready? Yep. Let's go. I'm sorry about all this, Dr. Croft. I promised you a quiet weekend. If I'd had any idea that everybody in Holman was going to die tonight. Now, here, we go down these stairs. Apology accepted. What do you make of it, hm? Well, if you want my idea, somebody's committing a nuisance. That's a king-size understake. No! Hey! Hold it! Hold it! Tripped over the stairs carpet. Watch your step. It's loose and it's scared. I'm watching. So you think there's a definite connection between these three deaths? They're darn tootin'. Well, in that case, we'd better have a closer look at Dr. Sims. That's our first job. The autopsy made us close something of vital interest. Yeah. Easy now. Cuttle slide through the door. So far, so good. Now, down the steps. Rikety, old house. Glad to get out of it. Look at the lights. Everybody in town seems to be awake. It means the whole population will be out to know what it's all about. One person's business is everyone's business in a place of this size. Naturally. If we step along, though, we may make it to the morgue before the population gets into its pants. I suppose it's too much to hope that they won't annoy Carmel the Ruiz tonight. That child needs to be left alone. Thing to do is to shove this body in with the rest. Lock up, then go over and get her. Get, huh? Yeah, take her and her cousin down to my shack. I have plenty of room. You can look after her, then, and we'll lock up the busybodies up. I quite approve, but that will involve you directly in the case. Involve me? I'm in it up to my neck right now. So are you, whether you realize it or not. You're keen to get to the bottom of it, and wouldn't miss it. Well, as a matter of fact, so am I. No end. Now what? You know, they've been trying to elect me constable of Holman ever since I came over here. I've been putting them off. Now I think I'll accept the nominations. Well, it would give you an official standing. That's the idea. Give me a chance to go after the guilty guy right. Well, we are back again. I shouldn't have left the door open. Hardly matters, I suppose. Probably not. Right inside. I, uh, I saw a shelf of fresh sheets. Yes, yes, there they are. We'll cover up all three and call it a night. Hello, Doctor. Look here. Somebody's been visiting our morgue. My word. Must have gone through Doc Sim's pockets. They've turned him on his face. Most peculiar. He's lying crumpled up just as we found him on the sand. Doctor, I don't mind telling you this sort of thing gives me the shivers. Shall we turn him back? I'll bother. I'll cover him up. Say, what do you suppose he had in his pockets anyone had want? Money? Nobody carries money over here. Haven't any place to spend it. Keys, then? That's it. Keys. Well, they didn't get him. Good thing I took him off him. Give Sim's death a decided flavor of murder, doesn't it? Doesn't add up. Doc Sim's and the Hartley Boy dead. Walter's a suicide. Captain, if someone wanted to rifle Sim's pockets, why didn't they do it out on the beach where we picked him up? Maybe we arrived on the scene too soon. That's an idea. Well, that's the best we can do for them tonight. Come on, I'll lock up and go over to old ladies' possums. Grizzly atmosphere, this morgue. Imagine a wrecking one in your backyard. Go ahead, Doctor. I'll lock up. Good. Eh, that's that. Doctor, I had a funny feeling when I saw Sim's just now. Change in position. Can't get it off my mind. Well, old lady Parsons house is this way. It might have been the final relaxing of certain muscles. Eh, you're sure he's dead, all right. Oh, as dead as anyone will ever be. I say, Captain, don't dwell on the thought. It's bad enough as it is. Three deaths in one night is bad enough, all right. But when one of the bodies is moved, another moves itself. What in the world are you talking about, Captain? As far as I'm concerned, that moving of Sim's body is the most important thing that's happened. You know, Doctor, if somebody stepped out in front of me and said, boo now, I'd go higher than a kite. Nerves, my dear fellow, all nerves. Oh, here's the place. Ruiz, I thought I told you to meet us over at your uncle's house. But it was not possible. My cousin Carmel, she was so much afraid. Where is she now? Upstairs. Has she been put to bed? How is it possible? Five or six women are with her. Scandal mongers at work already. Oh, bad bed. Andres, shall I go up and see what I can do, Captain? Okay, go ahead. We need any help call out. I think I can take care of things. But where can you take her? I'm taking you and your cousin over to my place for the night. Dr. Croft will be able to look after her then. Oh, thank you, Senor. It is a great worry off my shoulders. Save her, Ruiz. Have you been outside? I do not understand. Outside, outside, over to the morgue, for instance. But I assure you, Senor. I don't want to be assured. Have you or haven't you? But I tell you, Senor. Now, you just lean on me. Oh, they're coming down. We'll have you in a place where you can sleep in a jiffy. Got her, huh, Doctor? Oh, please. Easy, easy. Now, Ruiz, supposing you support her from the other side. I'm all right. Of course, of course. Now then, we're ready. If only we didn't have to go by the morgue. Well, now supposing you just close your eyes. We'll guide you and you'll never know when we're passing it. There's only a couple of blocks to my place. Oh, this is most distressing. Death all around us. Look, look! In Heaven's name, Captain, what's that? The sheet. He's wearing the sheet around him. Did you see his face, Captain? Did you see it? Yes, Croft. That's our dead man, Doc Sims, going down the road ahead of us. Old Doc Sims has risen from his cold marble slab in the morgue to walk the streets of Holman. Then dead men do prowl. Or do they? The second episode of Dead Men Prowl, entitled The Prowler at Work, will come to you next week at the same hour. You are listening to Adventures by Morse.