 Good evening, creeps. Tonight your mystery playhouse presents Miss Leslie Woods in an Inner Sanctum Mystery. The title, A Ghost in the Garden. Now we're at your door, Mr. Host, so open it, won't you? Good evening, friends of the Inner Sanctum. This is your host inviting you in through the squeaking door. Come on in. Come in, join our happy little community. And if you're not very careful, maybe you can stay. It's happened to some of our nicest people, and believe me, they've never regretted it. As they always say, it's a place to rest your bones. Remember, ours is the only community that has no taxes, no housing problems, no inflation, and no politicians. Of course it might seem a little dead to you, but that's the idea, isn't it? First we get down to brass tanks, and I do mean the ones that go around the edge of a coffin. So don't sneer, I've heard better jokes myself, but remember, he who laughs, laughs, laughs best, and brother, when we in the Inner Sanctum laugh, we're laughing last. Meet Laura, a nice girl in her 30s who had an uncle and worried about it. It was a pleasant life at Green Tower. It was pleasant being mistress of the huge, time-worn house, and the fertile acres that surrounded it, and the money that came in regularly. Always. It was pleasant being married to Tony who was very handsome and very gay, and who, they said, had married me for my money. Well, perhaps he had, but he was fond of me anyway. I'm sure he was, even though he was younger than I, but only a very little younger. It was a pleasant life, until Uncle Edward came home. Tony had gone out to the village, I think, to pick up something or other. I was alone. Tony, the door's open, darling. You know I never lock it. Do you have a nice time buying things, Tony? And who, my dear Laura, is Tony? Oh, Uncle Edward. Yes, but I haven't returned from the grave, my sweet. I didn't think you had. Hello, Uncle. That welcome could very easily be warmer and still not be overwhelming. I've been away a long time, and for a change, Green Tower seems attractive. Does it? Which is more than a pity. What do you mean? Telling it. You're not going to sell Green Tower. Of course, because I need the money. Uncle, you can't sell Green Tower. Well, it's mine, of course I can sell it. But... And who is this, Tony? Tony is my husband. Oh, really? Well, my congratulations. And I take it he thinks you own Green Tower. Yes. And thinks you have money as well. Yes, Uncle. I... I thought I saw someone in the garden. Uncle, please. He's still so infernaly dark out there. I can't see. Might be some burglar fellow. He was standing with his back to the room, in the garden. Uncle Edward, who had been away a long time, and who had come back at last to shadow my life. He was not a very big man, my uncle. And when I came close to him, I realized that he was barely as tall as I. Uncle... I can't make out a single... exhausted shadow. He was looking out into the garden for an imaginary burglar, while I stood behind him. With the old French paper knife my mother had asked me. I tried again. Uncle, please. Now it's no use, my dear. No use. Go away and stop bothering me. He didn't even turn around when he said that to me. Which made it quite easy when I... The knife went in smoothly. It kept on going into his back until I thought it would never stop. But the handle broke. Uncle Edward's body stiffened for a moment and leaned back intolerably against the knife. He grew more. After a moment I bent over. He was very silent, as silent as the dark garden, as silent as death. My uncle had come home more than he knew. He wasn't very heavy, and he didn't bleed at all, which was nice. As I dragged him through the French doors into the softness and darkness of the garden. I hurried, because Tony was coming home. The ground would be softest on you, under the rose buds that I loved so. It was there that I dug a grave for uncle, and it was there that I buried him. Under the lovely roses that would bloom again and again. Not knowing or caring who lay beneath them. There was the sound of our car pulling up at the front door, but I was finished. Uncle was under the roses, for the paper knife still in his bag. And I... I was in the drawing room, at the piano hall, when my darling came in. Oh, my love. Oh, Tony, my dear. Anything exciting happened while I was away. No, Tony. No. Nothing ever happened to you. Nothing. It's pleasant having breakfast in the garden, isn't it, Tony? Mm-hmm. Except for, um, look. Mr. Soap. Mm-hmm. Or windbag. Well, he's a very nice old gentleman, but he does talk a lot, and... Ah, good morning, good morning, good morning! Mary, what a lovely sight you two make. Charming! Thank you, Mr. Soap. Well, Laura, your roses are almost as lovely as you are. They're much lovelier, you know that. And where is your Uncle Edward, this fine boy? My Uncle... Oh, Lori, you upset your coffee. Oh, yes, I did, didn't I? Uh, well, Mr. Soap. I suppose Uncle Edward is still abroad. Oh, my dear, my dear, I saw him last night, here. Here? Well, on his way here, anyway, I was driving. He was quite late. I saw him coming down the road. Oh, it wasn't Uncle Edward. No? No, well, is that funny? Well, I thought I could have recognized him anywhere. It wasn't Uncle Edward. Well, yes, of course. You know better than I, of course. Well, I must be getting old, eh? Well, that reminds me. Mrs. Soap will have my head if I don't hurry back home. Goodbye! Goodbye! Who's, uh, Uncle Edward, Laura? M-my Uncle. Well, I could have guessed that. Oh, yes, of course. I mean my... my mother's brother. A poor relative? Um, why do you ask that? Well, you seem so upset when Soap mentioned his name. Oh, well, uh, he is a bit. He, uh, he's funny. I wouldn't have liked him. No, no, I don't think you would. So, isn't it lucky it wasn't Uncle Edward? Is that you, Tony? Yeah, I'm going down the road to the car. Do you want to come along? No, dear. I'd better go through this mail. Ah, good old mail. Lots of checks coming in, huh? Lots of them, darling. Say, Laura. Yeah? Oh, why aren't you using your paper now? My paper? Well, I sent it away to have a drink. Oh, it was a pretty thing. Glad you haven't lost it. But I thought I noticed it around. No, no, I sent it away a few days ago. When, when I, when is the time? Well, I'll see you later. Bye. Bye! Until later. And please, Tony, please forget about my paper knife. Please, Tony, forget about it. Hello? Hello. You're leaving me, sir. Why don't I come in? Well, uh, no, I'm not at all. Very nice. Very nice. We like it. Yes, you do. Now, where's Ed Cheney? Ed Cheney. Oh, well, I'm, I'm afraid you've made it a mistake. What kind of mistake? There's no Mr. Cheney here. Look here, my girl, this is Green Towers, isn't it? Yes. Until your uncle Ed, I'm here and waiting. Well, he isn't here. He asked me to come here today. But I'm here. I, um, I'm terribly sorry. But, um, he's away. He's abroad. He is not here. Oh, that was Mr. Money. Oh, he, he does. Yes, I've had it. I see. I don't care what I say or not. What I care about is the money. But I, I, I wait for him. You, you, you can't. You told me he was coming yesterday. Really? Well, it, it, it might be very awkward. Um, I suppose... Yeah? I suppose I gave him the money. Yeah, but you're right. Then you would go away. You wouldn't wait for Uncle Edward? I'd go away. All right, I, I think I, I may have it here. I, I always keep a, quite a bit of cash, Bob. That's expensive, you know what? Yes, yes, I do have it. Well, you are Mr. Threl. Thanks. Well, you didn't count the money. I trust you. And you? You know, I like this part of the country. Do you? Yes. And I've just changed my mind. What about? Going away, and getting on in years. Maybe I'll spend the rest of them here. He said you'd go away. I did, didn't I? Before you gave me the money. Well, you, you, you... Can't be very long on that, I... There'll be more, won't there, Laura? Hmm? Well, I'd better be running along. Find myself a nice place to live, near the village. But, Mr. Threl... You see, I and Uncle Edward did come here last night. And he didn't owe me any money. I was trying to get a job from him. Oh. That's, uh... This way is even better. Hmm? Of why? Oh, no. Oh, no. Ah, gents. It's getting late. I'll be going to my new little grey home in the west, eh? Eh? That is nice. Oh, man, Threl will be back, though. Buy all the drinks you can stand. Hey. Good day. What you want? I said, what? Hey, that's nice. Put it in there. Well, you're all here waiting, eh? What's the matter? Are you brave or something? Oh, you are. Then suppose you crawl out from under that sofa and listen to the tale of Laura who planted her uncle Edward under the rose bushes in the garden with her favorite paper knife in his back. A Mr. Threl tried to blackmail her, but one dark night, Mr. Threl lost interest in worldly matters, lying down on the street with a knife in his heart. The next morning at Greenhouse... Good morning, Bob. Good morning, darling. Too hungry to wait. All right, I will. What's the matter, Laura? I'm all right. Tony, who put those roses on the table? I did. They're blooming. I know how you love them. Thank you, darling. Say, terrible thing in the papers this morning. Oh? Man stabbed to death in the village. Really? Strangely heard about it. He was at the village bar, throwing a lot of money around, somebody evidently wanted the rest of his money, so he got a knife stuck into him. Oh, dreadful. What was his name, Tony? What was his funny name? Hard to remember. Oh, yeah. Threl. That's what it was. Laura, what's wrong? Nothing, nothing. I do think those roses have given me a headache. Their odor is so strong. Oh, that's a shame. I'll go and lie down for a while. Yeah, you'll do that. Yes, I... I may even be able to sleep again. What's not wondering about the room? Oh, I'm just a bit restless. Got your paper knife back from the cleaners, yeah? Paper knife? Oh, no, no, not yet. It's been taking me off a long time, isn't it? Hope they haven't lost it. I hope not. Tony. What? There are no roses in this room, are there? Well, then why is the odor of roses so strong? Laura, I'm worried. Why? Because. There is no odor of roses in this room. Good night, Tony, darling. Laura, are you sure you don't want me to stay with you tonight? No. Run along to your own bedroom. You're not looking well. I'll be all right. Well, yell if you want me. Good night. Good night, Tony. Good night. I'm afraid of the roses that go away. Every sweet odor of roses is always in my mouth. The deadly decaying odor of roses is always in my mouth. Oh, goodness sake, I wasn't asleep. And it was... There's nothing. I don't hear anything. I've got to get out of bed and sleep. Now, there's nobody in the garden. Nobody at all. There's a plum tree just as it always is. A vegetable patch. And the lawn where we play croquet. And... And there are the rose bushes, too. The rose bushes. And out of the rose bushes, a man is standing up and is my uncle. No! Tony, what did that doctor say? The... The consultant about me? I don't know. He's stopping by in a little while. He seemed a very strange man. Oh, psychiatrist. I knew he was a psychiatrist, darling. Tony, do you think I... Of course not. Because it's only that I smell roses when they're all in my... You're not crazy, Lauren, for heaven's sake. That must be the doctor now. Now, you'll be a good girl. I'll see him, and I'll be back very soon. You try to sleep. Yes, darling. I thought... Well, perhaps if I got out of bed and lay down on the floor the fresh air and the air conditioning machine were strong. Perhaps there I'd be more comfortable. But... I thought it was funny as I crawled about a bit on the floor on my hands and knees until I found the place where the fresh air was supposed to come from. Then... Then I began to laugh. And I laughed, and I laughed. And I laughed. That night I waited till it was left. And I went downstairs into the cellar and straight to the air conditioning machine which kept the house so fresh. And there, in front of the blower which drove the air through the pipes into my bedroom, found a little bottle. It was a lovely little bottle. With a crest on its little fat belly and a word ather of roses on it. The bottle, you see, was open. And then I knew that I wasn't mad. And I also knew that the time had come for me to find my paper knife again. Brought to you a break. Thank you, darling. Put it down. I want to get that. All right. Hey, had a good night? I had a wonderful night. Tony, I think I'm going to be well again. Good. Help me out of bed, darling, will you? Sure. Just put your arms on me. Oh, don't be in such a hurry to take your arms away, darling. Hold me close. Oh, Lord. I forgot to tell you. What? My paper knife came back. What? Yes, I have it now in my hand. The hand that's behind your back, Tony. Yes, Tony, here is my paper knife. You can take your arms away from me now, Tony. I'll tell me. It was quick, Uncle Edward, but I think you'll die anyway, Tony. Yes. Good, Doc. Maybe this can. Maybe. Oh, no, Doc. Well, I found the bottle of perfume you placed in the air conditioner that you were using to drive me mad. Bad luck. Very bad luck, darling. You saw me kill Uncle Edward, didn't you? You were the one in the garden, weren't you? Yes, I saw you. And then when Flail came, you knew about him and you killed him, didn't you? Of course. Couldn't afford to have you give him money. Money. It was going to be mine. Oh, Tony. Oh, Tony, didn't you know it was yours anyway? Everything I had was yours. Why did you have to torture me and try to drive me crazy? You would have cracked it. And the money would have gone to Uncle Edward. But you didn't, Tony, did you? Play it safe. Because now you're dying. And when you're dead, I'm going to bury you with Uncle Edward. Right in the garden under the road for sure. I've already told everyone that you're going away and you are. You're not very far. Although it's far enough, isn't it, Tony? You've won. Thank you, darling. And you've lost. Listen. You know what that is. It's an ambulance. For you. You're mad. Yesterday, two doctors signed a certificate of lunacy. I ought to... I am not insane. I can prove it. I can show them the perfume. I can explain it to them. Then how will you explain me? How will you explain us? Tony! If I prove I'm sane, they'll hang me. And I don't want to be hanged. If I say nothing, they'll think I'm insane and they'll send me to the asylum. And I don't want to go to the asylum. And they won't go away. That's the end of poor Laura. With a handy girl with a paper knife, but who didn't do so well with her spring planting. Let's go down to Green Towers to find out whether Laura is spending the winter in a padded cell or at the morgue. Let me give you a bit of earnest advice. Never plant your uncle in the rose bushes if you're allergic to pollen. You might get a bad case of sleigh fever. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Thankham has been a presentation of the United States Armed Forces Radio Service. Voice of Information and Education.