 and Peter Chambers by Henry Cain transcribed and starring Dane Clark. Private investigator, duly licensed and duly sworn Peter Chambers. Our private eye, that's your business. Anything else? That's for laughs. It's a lazy summer's afternoon and you've got your feet up on the office desk. And on the other side of the desk, there's another pair of feet. The latter belonging to the illustrious Detective Lieutenant Louis Parker, homicide New York City police, cop, gentlemen and good friend. Louis's got a day off and he's taken a busman's holiday. He's spending it in the company of a private eye. Well, let's get out somewhere, kiddo. A little sunshine or something. Even Coney Island. Yeah, I can just visualize you and me in the tunnel of love. All right, get in the side, Pete. Now we ain't going to spend the afternoon locked in your office talking shop, are we? No, no we ain't. If I can wangle it, we're going to be seated in a deluxe box at the racetrack screaming at the oat burners. Great, fine. What do you mean, if you can wangle it? Do you ever hear of Rhonda Duffy? Rhonda. You mean the lady that owns Grey Dancers? Supposed to be the best three-year-old in America. That's the one I mean. Certainly, I've heard of it, sure. Well, she's do here any minute with Jackie Johnson, her jockey. Her horse is running today, isn't it, Belma? That he is. Hey, what are you doing with these society swears? Well, I tell you, look. Come in. Ah, Miss Duffy. How are you, Jackie? Hi, Pete. Good afternoon to you, Mr. Chamberlain. This is Rhonda Duffy. Miss Jackie Johnson. This is Lieutenant Louis Parker, best policeman in the whole city. How do you do? Mr. Chamberlain, I don't know what Jackie here wants to see you about, but I do know it's personal. Well, I was just... Oh, no, please, Lieutenant. As a matter of fact, I was intending to invite Mr. Chamberlain to the track today. My horse is running. Oh, thank you. And I should love to include you, Lieutenant. Well... Unless you have something else. No, no, I don't have a thing. I'd very much like to go. Good. Then suppose you and I leave now, Lieutenant. My cars downstairs. Jackie and Mr. Chamberlain can join us later. After they transact, whatever business they have to transact. That's okay by me, Mrs. Duffy. Come along, Ben. And don't keep him too long, Mr. Chamberlain. He's riding today. I'll get him there on time. Then I'll see you later on. You know my box number. Yes, Mrs. Duffy, I do. Bye, Ben. Bye, Mrs. Duffy. Okay, Jackie. Where's the tight squeeze? Meaning? Meaning that when a guy wants to see a private eye, there's a tight squeeze somewhere. Pete, you know Ralphie Butcher. Ralphie Butcher? Hey, there can't be a tighter squeeze. What's between you and Ralphie? 40,000 bucks. Wow. And, uh, you're overdue? Yeah. Ralphie Butcher, the toughest loan shark in the city, and you're overbought to him for 40,000 bucks. How come, Jackie? When you play horses, Mr. Chambers, and I play horses, you hit a bad streak sometimes, see? And, brother, I really hit a bad one. I began to borrow and double up, borrow and double up. And all of a sudden... All of a sudden, you're way down deep in the hole, huh? Yeah, 40 Gs worth. Last night, he told me, get it up. Get it up today or else. And what can I do for you, Jackie? Well, I want you to call him. Can you do that for me? Sure, I can call him. Only what do you want me to tell him? To lay off me today. That's all. Just lay off me today. Tonight, I'll pay him. I'll pay him in full. Well, I think that can be arranged. Now, let me see now. Ralphie Butcher. Arrogant. Four. Two. Six. A couple of hours, lady. You're out in the brilliant sunshine of Mrs. Duffy's box at Belmont. Parker's there. Mrs. Duffy's there. And a tall guy with a little black beard who turns out to be of all things and undertake his embalmer. Mrs. Duffy introduces him to you. John Butler? Peter Chambers. How do you do? You know, fellow, you're the first undertake his embalmer I've ever met. Really? How's business? Oh, I'm out of that now. Now I write verse for greeting cards. Wasn't the embalming business better? Yes, somewhat. Why'd you quit? My wife. Somehow my wife objected to that profession. Prior to that, I was a pickpocket. What did you say? Oh, no, no, no, you misunderstand. I was a pickpocket as an entertainer. You know, nightclub work, Bodeville. I see. You're going to relax, Louis. Unfortunately, I was never really very lucky. Pickpocket embalmer, greeting card, verse of fire, but I'm afraid I have never averaged more than $50 a week in my life. So now you're playing the horses now? Oh, no, no, indeed not. This is the first time I've been to a race track in my life. You're kidding. Honestly. Then what brings you today? Well, I'm a very good friend of Jackie John's. Mrs. Duffy's Jackie, huh? Yes, that's right. He insisted that I come and watch him ride today. And well, I acquiesced. I've known Jackie for years and years, but this is my very first time at a race track. May I, uh, cut in on this very interesting conversation? Louis, this is the first time this guy's been to a race track. Yeah, yeah, he told me that. Pete, take a gander. Over there. The gander discloses in the very next box Ralphie Butcher, and seated beside him a good-looking blonde in slacks in red blouse. Mr. Butcher, biggest life. Oh, do you know Mr. Butcher, Lieutenant? I know him slightly. Do you? Oh, yes, he owns several excellent thoroughbreds. Mr. Butcher's a banker, lends money, that sort of thing. Yeah, he lends money, all right. Oh, do you know him too, Mr. Chambers? I know him quite well. The young lady with him is Katie Adams, works for me. Great answers trainer. She's your trainer? One of the few lady trainers in the business. I, um, I think I'll stroll over and pay my respects to our banker friend. Tell them to join us, Lieutenant. All right, Mrs. Duffy, I will. The next race is ours, Mr. Chambers. I'm awfully excited. See, I can't even open my bag for a cigarette. Look out for me. Oh! Easy, easy, does it, Mrs. Duffy. All you did was drop your bag. Oh, but everything is scattered all over the place. Well, just relax. Old P.D.'s the best picker-up in the business. Oh, this is such a... Hey, what's this? A switchblade knife. Oh! How on Congress can we get a society lady with a switch knife and a purse? Oh, it isn't as bad as it looks, Mr. Chambers. The knife belongs to my trainer, Katie Adams. She comes from the West where these things are legal. She found it in her trunk today and turned it over to me, and I shall bring it to a police precinct when we get out of here. Excuse me. Where are you going, Mr. Butler? That knife frightened you? No, no, no, no, indeed. I'm just going to stretch my legs and perhaps wager the bobble too. Well, good luck. Thank you. Thank you, my dear. Well, how about you, Mrs. Duffy? Aren't you going to bet on your horse? I've never made a wager in my life, Mr. Chambers. And in this case, it would be practically taking their money. Only a three-horse race and Grey Dancer has practically no competition. Parker appears with Butcher and Katie Adams, and then John Butler comes back and it's a real happy party. And pretty soon the horses dance out on the track. And Katie Adams, lady trainer, is most enthusiastic. Look at the gorgeous horse, that old Grey Dancer. That Jackie sitting on just like they were born for each other. And look at the prices on the tote board, which is just as it should be. Grey Dancer, one to five. Candy K, 40 to one, and Pamela H, 99 to one. This one's a walkover, that's what it is. Practically a walkover. But if it was a walkover, it was a walkover in reverse. Because dear old Grey Dancer came in last. Absolutely last. The winner, Tammy Kay. Second, Pamela Ace. And a very poor last, the one to five shot, Grey Dancer. The figures on the tote board show that Tammy Kay pays $80, $80 for two. While we... Brother, if ever I saw a jockey throw a race, that was it. First he holds him like he's gonna tear his head off, and then he makes a grandstand play. He puts the whip to him when he hasn't got a ghost of a chance. Well, it's a good thing you don't wage him, Mrs. Duffy, because... Wager or not. I know when a crooked race is run, there was absolutely no excuse. Katie, I want Jackie here as soon as he's out of his silks. And if I have my way, he'll be out of his silks for good. Twenty minutes later, Jackie's out of his working clothes and in Mrs. Duffy's box. And he's giving off with more double talk than a stuttering, ventriloquist dummy with amnesia. Look, I just went run, Mrs. Duffy, that's all. I'm only a jockey, not a magician. Mrs. Duffy, I broke him last like I always do. You know he's no front runner. But when I come to make my move, he wouldn't move. You held him. You wouldn't give him his head. It was obvious to everyone that there must be 40,000 people here. Look, Mrs. Duffy, right now there's another race and there's a horse in it I'd like to bet on, so I'm going to make my bet. Then I'll be back here and we'll discuss it further and if you want to bring charges against me, it's okay with me. I'll be glad to leave it up to the stewards but right now I'm going to make my bet. There's an exodus from that box as though a plague had struck. Rhonda Duffy says she's heading for the stewards and Katie Adams says she's heading for a bite of late lunch. The rest of them, including Parker, are heading for the seller's windows to do what you're supposed to do at a racetrack, bet on horses. He's in the next race, so you do the old tic-tac-toe and you make a selection yourself. The crowd is tremendous. You push and you get pushed. And then you see another type of crowd, an excited ring of people and when you get there, Parker's already there. Stooped over a body. And the body's that of Jackie Johnson. He was in that crowd at the $50 window and suddenly he dropped. Somebody stuck a knife into him. You help carry him to the clubhouse and he was finally established. He's dead. And he was murdered. And now you and Parker are working at your trade. The knife in his back is a switch knife that was in Mrs. Duffy's bag, no question. Which limits our suspects to the people who had been in that box. Parker hurts them all at the clubhouse and grills them. And the last one is Katie Adams. Now look, Katie, you knew Jackie pretty well. What kind of a guy was he? No good guy. Enemies? Plenty. Friends? I'd say he had only one real friend. That Mr. Butler. You met him, John Butler. I'd say Butler was the only guy Jackie ever really trusted. All right, Katie, thank you. You can go outside with the rest of them. Pete, what do you think? Well, the only ones who could have managed it were the ones who could have gotten to that knife. Mrs. Duffy, Butcher, Butler and Katie. And we haven't got a thing on any one of them that could hold them. Well, let's give it a run through, huh? Mrs. Duffy? Well, doesn't figure for a motive. She doesn't seem to be the kind of a person who would kill a guy just because he lost a horse race. What about Butcher? It's like I told you, Louis, Jackie owed him 40 Gs. There wasn't going to be any pressure until tonight. Jackie promised to pay by then. The guy'd be crazy to kill him when he's been promised the money by tonight. John Butler? According to them, he was his only friend. What reason would he have to stick a knife into him? And Katie Adams? No motive that I can see. Strictly a business acquaintance, trainer of horses. Can't hold one of them. Haven't got a thing on any of them. Anything else I can do here, Louis? Ah, thanks, Pete. Another thing. Look, you've got work to do here. I'll meet you in the paddock when you're through. Yeah, OK. And outside, the first guy that buttonholes you is John Butler. Any developments, Mr. Chambers? No, not a one. I think I'd better call home. My wife hasn't been feeling well lately, and I promised her. My word. What's the matter? I seem to be out of change. Well, here's some coins. Thank you. Thank you very much. My pleasure. Then you find Mrs. Rhonda Duffy seated at a clubhouse table lapping up scotch like there's no tomorrow. Parker comes out and joins you and you order a round of drinks for everybody. Parker mashes the hand across his face and he signs. Oh, this is a real humdinger. That it is. What happened to Kitty? She's out at the stables, Lieutenant. She's been very much affected by all of this. Why is she special? Well, it was her knife in some complex manner. She blames herself for what happened. Maybe it ain't so complex at then. I don't understand, Lieutenant. Well, look, Mrs. Duffy, we've got a limited number of suspects. The weakest one in the chain is your Katie Adams. Why? Well, let's put it this way. The two weakest links were you and Katie. But I checked with the stewards and you were with them at the time of the killing. That eliminates you. Thank you, Lieutenant. Now, wait a minute. No offense is meant, Mrs. Duffy. Lieutenant Parker is just working at his job. Of course he is. I'm sorry, Lieutenant. Sorry. The point is that we have excellent reason to believe that Mr. Butcher wanted Jackie alive, very, very much alive. And from what everyone told us, including you and Katie, Butler was a dear friend of Jackie's. Who does that leave us, Mrs. Duffy? But, Katie, I mean... Katie Adams. I can't believe it. Mrs. Duffy, would there be any re... Uh, was there any relationship between Katie and Jackie Johnson? Well, it was a long time ago. Please tell us, Mrs. Duffy. Any little point might help. Well, they were interested in one another, but that was, oh, at least a year ago. You mean a serious friendship? Well, Katie thought so. But then, well, she wasn't actually jilted. It was just that Jackie found a new interest. She'd take it bad? For a time, but only for a short time. After a while, she realized that it was all for the best. The Jackie was, well, a rather frivolous type. What do you think, Pete? Well, from a psychological viewpoint, I think... No. A lady doesn't wait a year to suddenly vent her spleen. Well, let me ask you this, Mrs. Duffy. How long has she been with you? Two years. And how come she picked today to give you that knife? She had it in her trunk, which she keeps here. She was doing a bit of cleaning when she came across it. She realized that in this state, it's illegal to own such a knife that she gave it to me. I wouldn't exactly say she picked today to give it to me. Louis, I still think you're barking up the wrong tree. How about that other tree which is approaching? John Butler. Oh, I'm glad I found you. I want to thank you for your hospitality, Mrs. Duffy. Oh, not at all. And in the circumstances, I must sound like an awful oaf, but I must go home now. Something wrong? Yes, yes, indeed there is. Urgent, Mr. Butler? Extremely so. My wife has been here live called home. Thank you for your coins, Mr. Chambers. That's quite all right. It seems the cheese taken a turn for the worse. Lieutenant Parker, we're under no restraint, are we? Any of us? No. No, of course not. Well, then, if you'll excuse me. Just a minute, Mr. Butler. Just a minute, please. I've got something to show you. Something to show me? What is it? What you show him is a bunched up visor. But he's a strong one, and he stands up under the punch. But then you work his arm around behind him in a hammer lock, and you've got him but good. What the heck is going on here? Grab a look in his pockets, Louis. Hey, do you know what you're doing? Grab a look, I told you. Hey, all right. It's fancy. There you are, mucky. What do you know? What do you got? Paramutual tickets. A lot of them. For a lot of dough. For that big race, the great dancer race. Set visa for number two, number three, Tammy Kaye and Pamela Eats. Let's hustle this guy inside where we can have some privacy. You talked me into it, sweetheart. Come on, you. Inside, further privacy is assured by Parker, appointing his 38 at the Crestfallen Butler, whose is limp as a rag doll in the rain. The good Mrs. Duffy's eyes bulge as you count up the mutual. How much, Pete? $2,000 worth on Tammy Kaye and $2,000 worth on Pamela Eats. $4,000 worth? Yeah. You know this monkey never saw 4,000 bucks and won lump in his whole life? Well, one said it's useless to sit on Pamela Eats. But the batch on Tammy Kaye, that horse paid 40 to one and he holds $2,000 worth of money. $2,000 worth of tickets. Representing in sum? $80,000. Can you explain any of this, Mr. Chambers? You betcha, Mrs. Duffy. And you, Butler, correct me if I go astray. That would be fantastic. We start with Jackie Johnson, who needed a pile of money and who needed it tonight. Oh, why? He got tangled up with a certain banker by the name of Butcher, otherwise known as a loan shark. I knew he was in trouble when he wanted to see you, but I didn't know what his trouble was. Little Jackie dreamed himself up a Lulu, a three-horse race with two tremendous long shots, and he's riding the Sench favorite. Oh, it's beginning to come to me. Jackie trusted his John Butler. He got together 4,000 bucks and he talked Butler into coming to the racetrack for the first time in his life, and he pumped him full of instructions. Meaning that Butler was to bet 2,000 bucks on each of the other horses in the race. He holds back on the gray dancer. And anyway, you look at it, he's got to win a fortune. Only little Jackie didn't figure on human nature. John Butler suddenly stopped running to form. Yeah, happens with horses and with people. It's my guess, Mrs. Duffy, that the idea came to him when he saw that knife fall out of your handbag. Is that correct, Mr. Butler? Yes. Yes, that's correct. You mean it came to him that with Jackie out of the way, he had 80,000 bucks in his kick and nobody could say it wasn't his. And those peri-mutual tickets are as good as cash? He used to be a pickpocket for entertainment. And this time he did it for real. He clipped a knife out of Mrs. Duffy's bag, the first opportunity he had, and in that crowd at the cellar's window, he shoved it into Jackie's ribs. But how? I mean, how did you know? He gave himself away. What? How do you... He wanted to get away from there, Louis. He was afraid the investigation might go a step further. He might be searched and he had those tickets on his purse. So he figured out a reasonable method. As it happens, his reasoning turned out to be a trap. I don't quite understand, Mr. Chambers. He went off to telephone his wife and he came back with the story that she was ill and that he had to go home all very rational, all very normal, except for one great big hitch. Hitch? He couldn't have spoken to his wife but why not? He was unfamiliar with racetracks. That's where he trapped himself. Oh, come on, I get to the point, Bebe. There are no public telephones at the racetrack. That's the point. Oh, but of course not. Nice work. He couldn't have called his wife and he couldn't have spoken to her. When he broached the subject, I gave him some coins and I waited. He was either going to clear himself or hang himself. And he hanged himself. You can bet on that, Mrs. Duffy. And that won't be a wager. And there you've had crime and Peter Chambers. Dane Clark was starred as Peter Chambers. Crime in Peter Chambers, transcribed, was created and written by Henry Cain. Others in the cast were Bill Zuckert, heard as Lieutenant Parker, Abby Lewis as Mrs. Duffy and Donald Buca as Butler. It was directed by Fred Way. This is Fred Collins inviting you to tune in next week, same time, same station, for Dane Clark in crime. And Peter Chambers. And Peter Chambers has come to you through the worldwide facilities of the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.