 I'm now for Edmund O'Brien as Johnny Dollar. Get out of bed and get your gum shoes on, Johnny. You're going to be busy. Who's this? Ed Bonner, and I'm calling you from Hartford. I heard you were in Boston this week. Get over to the L-Wood paper department store right away. Oh, call me later, Ed. But it's still late o'clock in the morning. Look, we got $300,000 worth of liability insurance on their fur department. Yes, sure, later. Now they haven't got a fur department anymore. Just had 85 minks stolen. What? Edmund O'Brien. In another transcribed adventure of the man with the action-packed expense account. America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Account submitted by Special Investigator Johnny Dollar, too. Mr. Ed Bonner, Mutual Liability Company, Hartford, Connecticut. The following is an accounting of expenditures incurred during investigation of burglary, affecting policy issued to L-Wood favor department store Boston, Massachusetts. Or the 85 Little Minks. Expense account, item, $1.90, taxi fare to Stewart Street entrance of L-Wood favor department store, where a police emergency ambulance was standing open. Two police officers were helping a man in a white coat load a blanket-wrapped figure onto the ambulance litter. I got my first information from the intern. Ah, what's up? Oh, I only worked the wagon. I picked up where everything else left off. Guy's name's Cronin. He's a night watchman here. Dead? Ah, about an inch away. We already gave him a transfusion upstairs. If the bullets don't kill him, they expose your will. What does that mean? Besides holes in his chest, he's also got frostbite. Somebody plugged him. Let him lay in the cold storage ball where they keep the furs. How long ago? Ah, who knows? All right, please, he wind it up. Let's get out of here. A sorted group of reporters and cameramen seem to be converging toward a freight elevator just inside the store entrance. I converged with them. We all rode up to the fifth floor where two plain clothesmen from burglary detail stopped us. I showed my ID card, argued for five minutes, and finally got a frown and a thumb jerk. I walked across 35 yards of expensive carpeting through a cubby-hole office door into a large room. Standing in front of a huge refrigerated vault was a tall man and a black Stetson. His name was Delaney. We shook hands. Quite a thing, Donna. Some guys walked out of here last night with 85 mink coats. It's a mess. You got a cigarette? Yeah, sure. Thanks. Door's gonna be closed all day when the burglary squad goes over it with everything they got. You can do what you have to do, too. Thanks, Lieutenant. I appreciate it. What do you think? A freight elevator or stairs? Either or both. I don't know. They must have had a panel truck or a big limo in that alley. Yeah, I noticed that on my way up. They'd keep any car hidden from the street and they'd be able to work without being bothered. I got a man coming down to check for tire tracks, but it wouldn't do any good. No matter where they were, they did it quiet and they did it neat. Neat? Yeah. Quiet? You mean that night watchman, Cronin? Well, there must have been some noise when he walked into them and got shot. I hope he lives to tell us something. He's in tough shape. How about this? The wart? Just like the banks have, only smaller. And they can also hang meat in it. Not pride or blasted or cut into, just plain old-fashioned tumbler work. Sandpapered fingers and all. Wouldn't surprise me. Somebody was plenty good. Not even marks of a Jimmy or Pride who would feel an edge. Just picked and plucked as nice as you pleased and fourteen little tumblers fell back. And the doors swung open. I thought that kind of thing stopped with Jimmy Valentine. And so did I. Who reported it? Guy named Dmitry Struganov, manager of the fur department. Come on. He's in his office now giving a statement of cover, my boys. You can have a listen in. There's your pigeon, Donner. 80 of you? Mr. Struganov? This is Mr. Daller. He represents your insurance company. Oh-ho. Your acquaintanceship, Mr. Daller, above all else. I am glad to make. Ah-ha. Eighty-five mink coats while you did $300,000 coin of the realm. You have, of course, brought check for them, yes? Uh... No. What? The adjuster will do that, Mr. Struganov. I'm an investigator, but don't worry you... Week by week. Month by month. Fourteen years. I get two words from the insurance company. Two words. Pay premium. Now it's Struganov's turn to say back his two words. Pay Struganov. Believe me, Mr. Struganov. Your money's waiting for you in a vault in a bank in Hartford where nobody can get it but you. Waltz. Ba-ba-pa. Uh, suppose you go right on with your statement, Mr. Struganov. Uh, we have to have it, you know. Why is my aid for mink in this direction? I answer you. Customer telephone Friday. Send over mink coat right away, she says. I send. Night comes, she wears coat to party. To breakfast next morning, she's also wearing coat. Maybe eggs she's eating. To party Saturday and to cocktail Sunday also Monday. Aha. My husband does not like coat. I'm sending back, she says. Mink. Real tough, Mr. Struganov. You can never tell what people will do next. I, Dimitry Struganov, can't tell. Look, if you'll just answer a few questions. This morning, even as I arise, comes to me a feeling of doom. Yes. Yes. Well, now about... Something is going to happen bad, I said to myself. And when I get here, no, no, even before I get here, I slip and fall. No, no, even before that. Parking tickets for too long pass. No, no, even before that. He went on like that for quite a while. And the police stenographer took down every word. His whole testimony typed up into 23 single-spaced pages. But only the following was of any use. Struganov arrived at the store at approximately 8.45, found the vault door open and inside the wounded watchman Cronin. Also, the mink coats gone. Struganov Notified Insurance Company. Struganov Notified Police, in that order. Expense account, item. $1.35 for two ham sandwiches, two bottles of beer, all of which I shared with Lieutenant Delaney and Struganov's office. They're all kinds of heists. Jewels, trucks, cars, banks. But this is the best so far. Maybe a 14-carat double-breasted A. Number one, Delaney, that's what it is, Donner. How'd they get in that safe? They just opened it up and walked in the same way you walk in your own front door, Lieutenant. But how? Who's that good? Who? Well... Is there a creepy kid? They always say he's that good. You and me both know creepy died 12 years ago at Denimore. And there was Dancing Dan Marathon. Dancing Dan, he couldn't open a two-bit padlock if he had the key. Who is good, Johnny? Who would do it? I wish I knew. Struganov's the only one in the store who knows that combo. The only one. But I don't know. But you aren't taking any chances. Didn't I see two of them and tell them out of you? You've had your life, you didn't. And by the way, didn't you put in a call to your office and have him checked on? You've had your life, I did. Ah, cardboard. All the time, we got... Delaney. Yeah, yeah, hi, Richie. Can you give it to me? A night watchman? Cronin died 10 minutes ago without saying a word. I was hoping he'd be able to fill in some gaps. Well, he does. At least one. Which one? The other watchman's story about playing the radio. Yeah. What other watchman? Al Reedy. Oh, I'm sorry. Dulley, maybe you passed him on. Well, tell me about him. Was he shot, too? Oh, no, no, no. We questioned him first thing this morning. You see, Cronin made the rounds and Reedy held down the office. We didn't know nothing about anything last night. He was listening to his radio in his office downstairs. What gap does that fill? And Doc says Cronin got it with a 32. Not a fit. They don't make much noise, and a man leaning into a radio close. Reedy, huh? Well, where can I find him? Right here. He's waiting in the locker room. Well, do you want to talk to him? Yeah. Mind? Oh, help yourself, Donna. Thanks. Oh, Donna. Yeah? You're looking for $300,000 worth of mink coats. I'm looking for a killer. Don't be a wise guy when you do your poking around, huh? I'll, uh, I'll try to keep my nose clean, Lieutenant. You, Al Reedy? You another cop? In a way, yeah. In what way? Insurance investigator. All right, Mr. Insurance investigator. Am I supposed to tell you something that'll tip the whole thing? No, Mr. Night Watchman. You're just supposed to tell me how things went for you last night. Well, I sat in my office from 10 to 6 when home went to bed. Got picked up by two big, flat-footed coppers at 7.30. And here I am. How things go with you last night? You sound a little put out, Reedy. Or are you used to places being heisted where you work? What kind of a nasty crack is that? What'd you see in here last night while you were doing all your night watching? Nothing. No freight elevator moving? No. No sounds on the stairs? No. And you didn't hear the shots to plug Cronin? No, I didn't. Why? Because I sit in my office and listen to disc jockeys. The radio's liable to smother a lot of noise. Wrong answer. Well, the cop's like it. I don't. Give me a better one. I'll have to look for it. But I'll find it, Mr. I'll show you. I'll show you will. If you'll never find those guys you've tromped off of those coats last night. You sound awful sure of that. I am. You spend all your time on someone like me trying to make something out of nothing just to show everybody how good you are. Reedy, if you're clean, I haven't got anything to worry about. Well, maybe. But answer me this. Who's going to say when a guy's clean? When he's right or wrong? A lot of filing cabinets in a building somewhere? Answer me, investigator. Who knows? Who's going to say? Oh, let me alone. Just let me alone. I didn't know what to make of Al, Reedy. But I did know I wanted to know more about him. At the personnel office, I pulled out his application card. It looked good enough, and then I suddenly put it back. I had a hunch, and I headed for the Middleton Safe Company. The president and chief designer of the Middleton Safe Company was standing under a blue light in the center of a newly completed ball. He seemed lost in the huge room of shiny, gleaming metal all around him. Please excuse me for not receiving in my office, Mr. Dollar. Inspection day? Something like that. Now, this one, this is what I call the Big Haze. Be useful, isn't she? Completed a fortnight ago for a firm of South American bankers. You work on the safes and vaults yourself, Mr. Middleton. Indeed I do. The drama of it captured me as a youth to compose and weld and conform metal into an impregnable stronghold. What's fascinating, eh? Yes, yes, of course. Fine metal, case hardened perfectly, alloyed Ohio steel. Strength, Mr. Dollar. Strength. But then I bore you, sir. And now then, eh, why are we meeting? So you can tell me something about safes and vaults, Mr. Middleton. Oh, I dare say I could, sir. But I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific. All right. Tell me, tell me about the kind of vault you manufactured for the Elwood Favourite Department Store. A vault for... Oh, yes, yes, it's the fir vault. Oh, yes, of course. What precisely do you wish to know about that vault? Oh, someone could open it without knowing the combination. Oh, an impossible occurrence. Have you read the morning papers? Papers. What about them? That particular vault was opened last night and all the firs taken. What do you say? Looted? Well, that's impossible. It happened. That's why I'm here. This is quite a show. Oh, dear me, Mr. Dollar. Of course you want a thorough account from my organisation. Of course. And I shall be glad to furnish you with any information that might be helpful. I'd like to know how the combination was set and who knows it. But I'd have to know the serial numbers of that particular vault. Yeah, try these. Oh, well, you're a very efficient man, Mr. Dollar. I see you've jotted them down. Well, let's go up to my office and look them up. Oh, no, no, no, sir. That won't be necessary. I recognise these serial numbers. D, four, five, three, six. Oh, D. Oh, D stands for Dana. And Mr. Dana set the final combination. Mr. Dana? My chief engineer for years. And who else besides him would know it? Myself and the person in proper authority at Elwood's table, of course. I don't know what would be struggling us. Anyone else here? No, sir. I'd like to talk to Mr. Dana, then. Well, I'm afraid that's quite impossible. Oh? Elwood Dana has been dead for seven years. Up to and including that point, I had a whole lot of nothing to go on. But by the time I got back to Boylston Street, heading for my hotel, things began to happen. A police car pulled up at the curb and a familiar steps on top of a familiar head leaned out of the window. Hey, dala, yo. Yeah, hello, Delaney. Hop in. Just come by to get you. I, uh, thought you might be interested in a guy. What guy? You know, one we found floating down the Charles River an hour ago. Who is he? I don't know. But it looked like he's got the same enemies as a night watchman named Cronin. Huh? Yeah. There were two 32 slugs in him. We wouldn't have picked it so fast, only that's the second pair been through ballistics in one day. And they match like your two front teeth. The same gun killed the night watchman and the guy in the river. In just a moment, we will return to the second act of Johnny Dollar. But first, it's a family night on the Bing Crosby show again this Wednesday. Brother Bob and Bing's son, Gary, already have scored with the Groner this month. And tomorrow night, Bing's 14-year-old twins, Phillip and Dennis, make their debut as a guest team. You'll hear the kids trying to sell dad a membership in the Bing Crosby fan club, a scheme that backfires. And you'll hear some rare and wonderful singing. CBS cordially invites you to hear the Bing Crosby show this Wednesday and every Wednesday over most of these same CBS stations. Now with our star, Edmund O'Brien, we return to the second act of yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Examining the body they found in the Charles River and trying to identify him. All the labels were ripped out of his clothes and the laundry marks were cut off. We were left with just his physical characteristics and fingerprints. The mug file didn't duplicate him and the prints didn't check with anything in town. Well, they sent them to the FBI in Washington. I got to my hotel at 4 a.m. to get some sleep and I got it. Three of the shortest hours worth I ever had. I'll tell her when he comes in. This is that Bonner, Johnny. How would you like to be fired? Who? Oh, uh, yeah, Mr. Bonner, sir. Uh, uh, what can I do for you? Turn up with 85 mink coats. What have you been doing since yesterday's sleeping? Uh, Bonner, I've run my legs down to my knees. I've been trying to find out something, anything. I've peeked into so many corners. I've got television eyes. And I've got a weak heart. Unless we find those first in 24 hours, we have to pay off Elwood Faber $300,000. Well, what are you going to do? Take it out of my pay? We have to. We'll start by selling your body to a medical school. Please, Johnny, do something. Ooh. Bonner, what's Elwood Faber's financial position? Triple A. How about the Furman stroganoff? He's always... All right, Bonner, I'll keep after it. I'll call you when I get something. Johnny, don't take my shouting personally, but this is a big one. I'll take it out of bed, take a shower, and get my clothes on. I thought it for the door and had no idea where I was going. Uh-huh, Mr. Dollar. When somebody did my thinking for me. To see you personally, I stroganoff my estro of the Elwood Faber for department M-E-S. Do you have any news? News. Every paper in the country should hit twice, never in my 30 years of association with that foul little beast, the mink, as anything like this happens. What happened? You wouldn't believe me. Look, I'm pretty gullible. Well, it's incredible. I don't blame you for not believing me. Are we gonna keep up this game, or are you telling me? Don't get off me with stroganoff. I will tell you. This morning, roughed in dirty cardboard box is arriving at the Ford department. Guess what? A mink coat. Incredible? Incredible, indeed. You mean one of the coats was returned by mail? Right. Well, that's encouraging. I am not overjoyed. You still owe me for 84 coats. One dollar ninety cents for cab fare to Elwood Faber. It didn't make any sense that the man know a man who committed murder to make the heist would return anything. But one coat had come back. And in the pocket, I found a small piece of slick cardboard. It was only a third of an inch long, but there were three words on it. Country club dance. I was lucky. The country club secretary had a guest list and one name on it stuck out like the nose on Jimmy Duranty. Patricia Reedy. Yes? Oh, is Reedy? Yes. Who are you? Name's Johnny Dollar. Your father is employed at Elwood Faber, isn't he? That's right, Bob. Is he in now? He's probably in bed. May I help you? I don't know. I saw you at the country club dance the other night. Oh, were you there? I couldn't keep my eyes up. Especially when you had that mink coat on. The mink? Well, I... Talk with this guy fast. What do you want, Dollar? Some information. Patty, will you make some coffee or something? Oh, I do. Anything else? Oh, nothing I can't handle. Okay, Dollar, what are you doing here? Who asked you into my house? My job. I came to find out about a mink coat that showed up at Elwood Faber this morning. Look, let's go out in the hall and talk. Okay. All right, Reddy, let's hear it. Now, don't go into a long song and dance. I'll tell you everything. Just the way it was. And I'd be real interested. The way I figure it, your health and the theft. You maybe even killed Cronin. You kept one of the coats, but you got scared. You might be caught with it, so you sent it back. Your daughter left the dance ticket in the pocket. All right. Here's the story right down the line. I didn't help in the heist. I had nothing to do with it. I didn't even know what was happening. Like I told you, I was in my office listening to the radio. Tell me, Reddy. Have you been arrested? Well, darling, you're smart enough to find it out sooner or later. I serve time, sure. You might as well know lots of them. Elwood Faber would be interested to know a trusted watchman to serve time. What'd you expect me to do when I got out? Curl up and die? I got to live too. I'm straight now. I had a wife and a kid. A wife died. You've seen the kid in there. 13 years of her life, she had nothing. But now I'm trying to make up for that. Everything I do is for her, not for me. What about the coach? Sure, I took it. I borrowed it. The water safe was locked up for the night. I've been borrowing stuff right along. Whenever my kid needed anything, I always returned them in good shape. Told Pat they'd let me do it. She don't know nothing. That's kind of a strange philosophy. I don't even know how to spell philosophy. But I do know this. That girl in there has a life ahead of her. Mine's behind me. I got to give her every chance I can to look good, to act good, to use her brains to find the right people and go to the right places. Not just for Doge, you understand. A millionaire husband. But just for a right guy and a fair crack at happiness. You guys are all the same. You work from a little book, printed directions. Everything's black and white in life. Nobody's human. I don't know what you're going to do. But I hope it don't blast that kid's life to pieces. Reedy, you should have thought it as a long time ago. I don't want any lectures. You'll shut up and you'll listen to me. I think I believe you. You're right. Maybe we do work from printed directions a little too much. Well, I can use a little judgment on my job. I think for now, I'll forget everything you told me and forget where that coat came from. Go on back to bed. Reedy, I know what bad breaks are like, too. You'll have me doing that in a minute. Hey, dolly, I don't go in for this stupidion stuff I never have. Well, now I see it another way. It doesn't matter what you tell as long as you tell it to the right guy. What does that mean? I'm going to give you some. It'll take at least 24 hours to identify the guy they found on the Charles River. A picture in the paper this morning. Well, I can tell you right now who he is. Who? Who is he? Ted Gray. Worked in Elwood Faber about six weeks. He was fired two weeks ago. How do you know? Oh, I just know. The personnel at Elwood Faber confirmed Ted Gray had worked there and was fired for insubordination. The address was 1432 Parkerst Avenue and I was over there in 15 minutes. There was an ordinary, undistinguished apartment house no one answered when I knocked the department 12A. The door was unlocked. Except for the furniture, the room had almost nothing to offer. I poked around for half an hour before I saw the phone numbers written on the wallpaper next to the phone. There were 14 numbers and I started calling them right down the line. The first seven produced such things as Ling Chi, Chinese hand laundry, the happy hour liquor store, and several other things that didn't have the particular information I needed. On the eighth call, I got my dog. Harry Gordon. He didn't know Harry, but I knew him. At least his voice. I called Lieutenant Delaney and told him where I was going. It was dark by the time I got to the Middleton safe factory. There was a single work light spreading a sickly yellow glow over the main floor of the loading platform. There wasn't a sound when I entered. That was too good to last. It went off somewhere in the darkness and I dropped behind a medium-sized safe and waited for a gun flash. Looking for any forming coats, Middleton? Not much, but save your breath. You're going to need it to run. I could never remember all those Spanish verbs. Thanks. Lots of people, Middleton. Lots. If I hit you, how'd I know you weren't a person? You'll have to shoot better than that. The 32 you used on Ted Gray? Luga didn't help you much, Middleton. I could never find... Look, I know why you kicked the watchman over, but why your own boy, Gray? Dear, wasn't it? That shows you how wrong it can be. It wasn't Ted Gray. You see, Middleton? Chesapeake Middleton, he's your boy. Yeah, boy for what? For the fur heist and the bodies of the morn. How do you know? Well, it's a... safe for the furers on its way to South America somewhere. If you hurry, you might stop it at the port of New York. Why would he kill the guy in the river? And who was that guy? Ted Gray. He was the man who cased the Elwood Favour job. He reported 85 coats ready to go and when only 84 showed up, Middleton thought he was holding back on it. Well, okay, Johnny. Thanks for doing all the work. I was just lucky, Delaney. You sure were. You could've been hit where it hurt worse. Come on, let's have the ambulance doctor look at that shoulder. This is the only way to lead a youth. Make it. You know, you're great on your feet. Well, what about you, Johnny? Dancing with your arm and a flame. Well, I took the no hands course at Arthur Murray. Put your tables. Oh. Bonner? Uh-uh. I won't take another job for at least a week. No, it's not that. What is it? Are you afraid I'll put a night out on the window sheet? You aren't finished. Not finished? Well, you got the coats, didn't you? Yeah, we found the safe down at the dock tonight, all right. But you know the one that was sent back in the mail? It's been stolen again. One's still missing. Oh, really? Oh, hold that. Oh, yeah. Well, you know, Bonner, somehow I... I have a feeling that last coat will be in the mail tomorrow. Are you sure? Positive. So long, Mr. Bonner. So long, Johnny. Who is it? Oh, nobody important. You know something, Pat? You look just grand and minky. Show up the next day and in the mail. Maybe she'll have one of her own someday. Me? I stuck around Beantown for a few days to get a better look at the Bunker Hill Monument, Paul Revere's home, and her deep blue eyes. Which, uh... Which began hinting at Wedding Bell's soul. Expense account item 1175, back home, but fast. Expense account total $384.16. Yours, uh... Truly? Johnny Dollar. Truly, Johnny Dollar stars Edmund O'Brien in the title role and was written tonight by E. Jack Newman and John Michael Hayes with music by Leith Stevens. Featured in our cast were Harry Bartell, Joseph Kearns, Hans Conreed, Bill Johnstone, Howard McNeer, and Gloria Blondel. Yours, truly, Johnny Dollar is produced and directed by Jaime Del Valle. Join us next week when Edmund O'Brien returns in another transcribed adventure of... Yours, truly, Johnny Dollar. If you've got a piece of string handy, you better tie it around your fingers so you won't forget to file your income tax return. The deadline is March 15th, you know, and March 15th is right at hand. So to avoid penalties, file your returns promptly, but don't be in such a hurry that you forget to sign your name or attach a withholding statement. Now stay tuned for the Adventures of Philip Marlowe, which follows immediately over most of these same CBS stations. This is CBS, where you meet Gene Autry every Saturday night. The Columbia Broadcasting System.