 Johnny Dollar, what time is it anyway? About 1 a.m. A friend of yours, Mr. Ralston, mentioned your name to me yesterday. What, Ralston? He said you were here in New York for the weekend and mentioned your hotel. Look, Miss Carson isn't it? Yes, Carol Carson. Yeah, it's nice talking to you and all that, but it is rather late. Well, I realize- Carolina's insurance investigator. This is incurred during my investigation of the deadly doubt matter. The apartment I'm at read on E-67. Carol Carson was waiting for me at the door. She looked sort of dazed as she pointed to a body on the floor. Yes. This is his apartment. You said over the phone you thought you'd kill him. Well, he's dead, all right. That's not what I meant. I meant I thought I was the one who killed him. I'm not sure. Oh? I guess I'm not making much sense. You're sort of funny. Lightheaded. Why don't you start at the beginning? All right. Came to see her tonight about 11 o'clock, I guess. He was a friend of yours? No. He sent for me. I had to come. Why are you telling me why? He insisted that I have a drink with him. Then I started to feel funny. How so? Busy. I had to get some air. You think there was something in the drink? There must have been. He didn't want me to leave. But I had to. What time was that? I think a little before, maybe. Go on. I wandered around the streets. I was in kind of a day. How long were you wandering around? It seemed like a long time. Then why? I came back here to the apartment. I had a terrible headache. I remember walking in the door and... well, that's all. That's all? What do you mean that's all? That's all I remember. I must have passed out. When I came to, I was lying on the floor. That gun wasn't in my hand. In front of me was what I called you. That's all you can tell me. I'm afraid so. Isn't much, is it? It sure isn't. Mr. Dollar, I can't believe I killed him. I couldn't have... Now look, Carolyn, you see you left this apartment a little before 1130. The police medical examiner will be able to tell the approximate time of death. If you weren't here at that time... That's just it, Mr. Dollar. I don't know how long I was on the streets. It seemed like a long time, but... Well, my head was spinning and everything was pretty hazy. You've got to remember where you went. Try to think. Coffee? You stopped somewhere for a cup of coffee? I think so. Where? Remember a neon sign on... on Third Avenue? No, you've got to do better than that. That's all I remember. Did you talk to anyone while you were walking around? I don't... I think a man. He was following me for quite a while. He told me his name. Yes, it was Tom. What do you look like? Curly hair. I remember that. Dark eyes. Oh, look. That description fits thousands of guys in New York. I know, Mr. Dollar. The whole story, I... doesn't sound very convincing, does it? I called Detective Lieutenant Mike Tobich of Homicide and he was there 10 minutes later. He was still questioning her when I left. I had him two $1 drinks for me while I thought about the whole deal. Of all the guys in New York, why did she have to pick on me? But yeah, I'd do what I could to help her. Because that story of hers, it sounded so phony. It just might be true. Johnny Dollar in a moment. Holy Johnny Dollar and the deadly doubt matters. $2.20, a telephone call to Pat McCracken at Universal Adjustment Bureau. Yeah, Everett Reed had been insured by one of Universal's member companies, so I got myself officially assigned to the case. Then I went to work checking out Carol Carson's story, what there was of it, and it wasn't much. All she'd remembered was wandering around the streets, getting a cup of coffee somewhere on 3rd Avenue and being followed by a guy named Tom. I started checking every joint on 3rd Avenue from 60th to 70th Streets. An hour and a half later, I hit pay dirt at Eddie's bar and grill. Yeah, yeah, I think I remember all right. Carson. Carol Carson. Her name don't be nothing, but from the description you give me, yeah. Sure, I remember now. I remember thinking she looked kind of funny when she walked in, like she was in days or something. All right, all right. Now, what time was it when she came in here? I don't know, two, three hours ago. That's not good enough. Was it 11? 11.30? Midnight? Well, what? Well, maybe around midnight, maybe. Was she on? Yeah. You sure about that? Well, of course I can remember. I kind of remember somebody in the door when I came in, but I didn't know if there was somebody with her or not. All right, what happened then? So she asked for a cup of coffee, so our poor didn't set him down in front of her, so she left. She what? Yeah, he got up and left. Still acting sort of funny. Let's see. How much of a time can you account for that? Huh? I mean, how long was she here in your place? Eh, no more than about one minute, Matt. Oh, great. The dollar-eighty campfair to police headquarters and Lieutenant Mike Tobitsch and homicide. Look, Johnny, you're not trying to tell me I should buy an alibi like Carol Carson's, are you? So it is pretty vague. Mike, vague enough to be true. At least she was telling the truth about going into that joint on 3rd Avenue for a cup of coffee. So she's covered for one minute out of two hours. Two hours? She said she went to Reed's apartment about eleven o'clock. Right. The medical examiner says time of Reed's death was between eleven thirty and twelve thirty. She called you at one o'clock, but if she can prove she was out of that apartment for that hour. She's only proved she was out of it for a minute, plus the time it took to get to 3rd Avenue and back. Say, five minutes each way. And it'd still give her plenty of time to kill him. But if we could find this guy named Tom, she says she was following her around. Maybe he could prove she was out of the apartment during the time of the murder. Oh, sure. That was a real helpful description she gave us. Curly hair and dark eyes. Look, Johnny, so you're taking a liking to her. That's too bad. But don't let it make her fool out of you. Mike, did Carol tell you why she went to Reed's apartment? No, no, she wouldn't talk about it. She also wouldn't explain a lump she has on the side of her head. A lump she has? Yeah, we think she got it fighting with Reed. What do you know about him? Bad boy. A big gambler. And the way we heard, he'd been winning pretty big lately. Maybe somebody he won from couldn't pay off. Except with a bullet. Yeah, maybe anything, Johnny. Prove it and I'll listen. Who did Reed run around with, you know? Usual crowd, Johnny. Jack Vistle at Outfit. Vistle, huh? Now, I've Reed won a lot of money from him. Like I say, Johnny, anything you can prove. Yeah, yeah. Come in. Tomatovic. That's right. I'm Larry Bowman. I want to know what's going on with Carol Carson. Oh, what's it to you, Mr. Bowman? She might hear us saying you've been a locked up. That's right. Suspicion of murder. Oh, that's ridiculous. She didn't kill anybody and you know it. Look, Mr. Bowman, if I knew it, she wouldn't be locked up, would she? Now maybe you can tell us why she went to this Everett Reed's apartment last night. I don't know why she went and I don't propose to ask her either. I trust the lieutenant. And if she went to see him, she had good reason. But Carol's not the kind that could kill anybody. You must have realized that just talking to her. The main thing that I realize is that my personal opinion is beside the point, Bowman. Look, the thing we need to know is if Carol was away from Reed's apartment almost an hour and a half like she seems to think she was walking around the streets. Didn't you say that sooner? I can prove she was. Oh, I was with her. Oh, honey, she didn't mention it. She was probably confused. You're sure you're not the one who was confused? No, look, I tell you, I was with her. Okay. Where were you? On the street. What street? I don't remember. 68th Street, I think. That's not the street Carol says she was on. As I say, she was probably confused. Where'd she go? To a bar. Where'd you have to drink? Well, Carol too. Sure, why not? Oh, you're fighting a losing battle, Bowman. Carol says she had a cup of coffee on 3rd Avenue and that a guy named Tom was following her. I'll listen. You told us enough, Bowman. I can't blame you too much for trying, I guess, but it won't work. You weren't with Carol and you know it. I know she didn't kill her. You mean you hoped she didn't when it comes to knowing. You know every bit of evidence we got says she did. And we've got nothing that says she didn't. And the deadly doubt. Lieutenant Tobish, you can talk about evidence until he's blue in the face, Donald. Carol's not a killer. You prove that and Tobish will be the first to listen. But cooking up phony alibis for Carol is not going to help any. Okay, okay, so it was a stupid thing to do. But I can't just stand by and do nothing? Don't you have any other leads you can follow up? One, maybe. Well, what is it? Reed was at Gambler. Could be somebody was losing Big Joe. Oh, Carol's my fiance. I know she doesn't have that kind of money. Anyway, she doesn't gamble. I wasn't thinking about Carol. Who's that? Jack Vistle, for instance. We've found out Reed's been seen with Vistle several times lately. Well, you got a question about it? I may as well. After all, at this point we got nothing to lose. What reason would I have to kill Reed? Could be a real good reason, Vistle. Maybe you lost money to him, Gambler. Some nights you win, some nights you lose. So maybe you lost more nights than you won. So maybe you owe Reed some money. Oh, that could be the motive. Look, Donald, why don't you take your crazy theory someplace else? Yeah, I owed Reed money. I owed him all the two bits. Now is that enough to bump him off? I started making the rounds along 3rd Avenue again. But I got nowhere. Nobody remembered seeing her and nobody remembered the guy named Tom. The one she told me had been following her. Two hours later I gave up. I was beat. I went back in my room and flopped on the bed. What? My name's Tom. Sure it does. Are you the one who was walking around the streets with Carol Carson? That's right. I'm her alibi. So I bust my neck trying to find you and it ends up with you finding me. Well, I've written the papers that look bad for Carol unless they found the guy who was with her. You didn't show up any too soon, believe me, brother. How long were you with her? Oh, I figure at least an hour. I kept following her and once in a while she'd stop and talk, but she seemed kind of dazed. Apparently it really puts something in a drink. Anyway, I finally gave up. I figured if it was that tough to get acquainted, what's the use of it? But you're willing to swear you were with her for an hour. Why, at least. I'm around 11.30 to after 12.30. That clears her. Brady can't figure the headquarters. Tom repeated the statement and Carol identified Tom as the man who'd been following her. So it looked like it was all over. I... I guess I'll never be able to thank you enough, Johnny. Well, if it hadn't been for you... Ah, well, let's just say I'm a stubborn type, Carol. Once I believed your story, I had to follow through on it. Oh, it's hard to realize I'm free. It's been like a bad dream. I'll bet Larry Bowman's glad it's over, too. Have you called him yet? No, I'll call him from my apartment. Johnny, all I can say is thanks again. I took a cab to her apartment. I started back into the building and then, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted another cab pulling away from the curb following Carol's. And it was Tom. I figured I'd better join that procession. I tagged along to Carol's apartment. Inside I could hear voices. The door was unlocked. Carol was in the process of handing over some money. Looks like I got here just in time to witness the payoff. So you bought yourself an alibi, Carol? No. I'll look dollar. You better stay out of it. Carol, I gotta hand it to you. You really had me fooled. Well, you don't understand, Johnny. Don't be a sucker, dollar. Cut yourself in on the pie. I'm willing to have a partner. What are you talking about? The last night when I followed Carol back to Reed's apartment, just as I was leaving, I spotted somebody coming down the fire escape. I followed him, found who he was, and where he lived. Then when the story came out in the papers, I realized I knew who the killer was. I figured I'd make some go out of it. But not as long as Carol was in jail. Johnny, just now when he wanted money to keep him from telling the police, I... Well, I didn't know what to do. I thought if I gave him what I had, it would keep him satisfied until I could figure out... Larry? Well, it was too late. Oh! He opened door. It struck Larry's arm, deflected his shot. Before he could shoot again, I nailed him. Johnny, are you all right? Yeah. Larry Bowman's the killer. I guess I was afraid of that right from the start. You see, Larry had been gambling with Reed and losing to him. I tried to make him stop, but he wouldn't. Finally, he lost more than he could pay. So you went to Reed's apartment to try and squirt, huh? Reed told me maybe something could be worked out. When he put something in my drink, I realized what he meant. That's why I got out. And Larry entered the apartment when you were away, killed Reed, slugged you when you came back, and planted a gun on you? I guess so. I wasn't sure until Tom told me he'd seen Larry climb down that fire escape. At first, I just couldn't believe that Larry would... Do you figure a thing like that, Johnny? How do you figure it? I didn't try to answer that one, because I didn't have an answer. I guess it just isn't any. I'd have made $13.40 since the nettles and transportation back to Hartford. Expense account total of $41 even. Yeah, Larry Bowman's gambling was a big fat mistake. Burst with Everett Reed and then trying to frame Carol. I guess that's the trouble of gambling. You push your luck too far. And sooner or later, you're bound to lose. You're as truly Johnny Dollars. We'll return in just a moment. To tell you about next week's story. Next week, a doting Dowager who sets me out on the wildest case I ever handled. Join us, won't you? You're as truly Johnny Dollars. KRMG is our newest affiliate station and serves nearly a million families in the Southwest. You're as truly Johnny Dollars starring Bob Bailey is produced and directed by Jack Johnstone. Today's story was written by Robert Stanley. Heard in the cast were Virginia Greg, Julius Matthews, Paul Duboff, James McAllion, Alan Reed and Frank Gerstle. Join us next week for another exciting story of yours truly Johnny Dollars. This is Dan Coverley speaking.