 This is where he phone-follows. Good Lord, there he is, lying under the call box. Said his throat cut from ear to ear. And there look, huh? Right next to him. Another of those devilish chessmen. Midnight. The witching hour when the night is darkest. Our fears the strongest. And our strength at its lowest end. Midnight. When the graves keep open and death strikes. How? You'll learn the answer in just a moment in. Death across the board. We're at midnight. Tales of mystery and terror by radios masters of the macabre. Our story by Robert Newman is... Death across the board. About eleven o'clock on a sultry summer evening. And Dr. John Strand is standing in front of the window of a pawn shop in the oldest part of the city. There is the usual collection of odds and ends on display and also some items that are rather unusual. On a sudden impulse, he pushes open the door and goes in. Good evening, sir. Good evening. Is there anything I can do for you? No, thank you. If you don't mind, I'd just like to look around. What do you mean? I just thought that if there was something in particular you were looking for, I have some very fine glassware. Hobnail, flint and sandwich glass? No, thank you. I don't go in for glass collecting. Uh, hello. There's chess set. It's a very interesting one. And a very interesting game you're playing. My dear sir, you have no idea how interesting. Whose move? The whites. Oh, well then, right should win in six moves. That, sir, is very much open to questions. Well, perhaps we can play sometime. How much for this set? Oh, I'm awfully sorry, but it is not for sale. Oh, it's too bad. Yes. However, if you are interested in chess and chessmen I know of a set that I think might appeal to you. It is an Arabian set, 12th or 13th century ivory. Reputed to have belonged to Salah Eddin. The white pieces are Saracen warriors and the black pieces are crusaders. You have it here? Unfortunately, no. But it is not very far away. And if you thought you'd like to see it... Well, if it's not too expensive and if you're sure it's no bother... My dear sir, don't give it another thought. It will be most anxious for your reactions even if you do not buy. The address is 23 Valen Place. That is down two blocks and one to your right. Ask for Felix and tell him that Raphael sent you. 23 Valen Place and ask for Felix. I will phone him. Tell him to expect you. Your name is... Strand, Dr. John Strand. Very good, Dr. Strand. Somehow I have the feeling that we shall see each other again. Perhaps even have a chance to play that game you mentioned before. Who is there? Felix. I say who is there? My name is Strand. Raphael sent me over here. He said he'd phone you until... Just a moment. How do you do? I hope I'm not disturbing you. Very well. Come in. Now, hold your hands up. Frédéric, must be some mistake. There is. You have made it thinking you could come here and take me in this way. But this is ridiculous. I said hold your hands up. Keep them up. Now look, Felix, if that is your name, will you do me a favor and call, Raphael? Please send me over here to look at a chess set. And don't move, do you hear? The right way you are with your hands behind your head. You so much as move. Hello? Oh, hello, Raphael. Yes, he just got here. What do you think? I shall take him into the back room. Do it there. No. No one will hear. Right. I call you back. Very well. In there. What for? Because I said so, that's why... What? Drop that gun. Drop it, you hear? Oh, my... I should have killed you, by the way. Okay, now. Now get up and tell me what this is all about. You hear me? I said get up. And... Felix. Dead. Hello? Felix? I'm sorry, he can't come to the phone just now. Oh, Dr. Strand. Congratulations. What? Who is this? This is Raphael. And now do you think it is possible for White to win in five moves? Well, what do you mean? What in heaven's name is... You killed him, did you know you would not be speaking to me now? May I suggest that you go through Felix's pockets. Take out the most interesting thing you find there, and bring it to my shop. What? Hello? Hello? Raphael? He goes through his pockets. Well, I've got to get to the bottom of this and find out what it's all about. A wallet. Keys. And a chessman. A black rook. A black rook. All right, Mr. Raphael. I think perhaps I'll take you up on that. I will go back to your shop. Good evening, sir. Can I help you? Yes. Where's Raphael? I'm sorry he's not in right now, but... Are you Dr. Strand? I am. I'm Alice Hines. He must have been expecting you, doctor. He asked me to give you this. What is it? I don't know, but... Another chessman? A white knight. Oh, yes. Mr. Raphael is quite a chess player. Yes, he's more than that. He's a murderer. What? Or at least he has friends who are. What do you mean? I mean just that. He sent me to see someone, a man named Felix, to look at a chess set. And when I got there, this Felix pulled a gun on me, and when I tried to get it away from him, it went off and killed him. Oh, no! Oh, don't look so surprised and innocent. I worked for him. You must know what it's all about. And that's what I came back here to find out before I call the police. There must be some mistake. Some horrible mistake. Yes. I've only been working here for a few weeks, but he's been very nice to me. Kind and considerate. A mistake, eh? Then why did he phone Felix while I was there? How did he know he'd been killed? Why did he laugh about it and tell me to come back here? I don't know, but I can't believe that about him. I won't. No, well, we'll see what the police have to say about it. Where's your phone? Back there. But if you're serious about it, you don't have to bother calling them. Why not? Riley just went past here a few minutes ago. But there he is. Up at the corner. Fine. That'll save some time. Officer? Officer, would you come here a minute? Good Lord. Someone shot him. That woman hiding behind that car there. The woman in black. And she's coming in here. Don't just stand there. Get inside and shut the door. You. You shot Riley. Killed him. Just like that. Yes. Six months I've been waiting. Trying to find out who got my Ben. Now he'll rest in peace. Where's Rayfield? Rayfield? Yeah. It was him that got the dope for me. Told me how to knock the cop off. And he told me to come in here afterwards. Well, Miss Hind? I still can't believe it. I can't. I can't. You can't believe what? And why are you looking at me so funny? Say, who's side are you on anyway? Not ours, my dear. What? Not on our side. Oh, so that's it. I just took it for granted that. Okay. Get your hands up and keep them up. What'll I do with them, Rayfield? I leave that to you, my dear. After all, they are witnesses. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. May I recommend the cellar? Right through that door there. It's quite secluded and quiet. Yeah. Okay. Get moving. I repeat, Miss Hind's well. It's mad. Fantastic. What are you going to do to us? You can't be that, dumb baby face. Six months I've been wearing black for the only guy I ever loved. Finally I got the guy that got him. You think I'm going to leave the two of you around to put the finger on me? You mean you're going to kill us? But you can't. No. Seems to me I did a pretty neat job on that flat foot. And after all, they can't burn you more than once, can they? Okay, open that door and go on down. Allow me, madam. Never mind, wise guy. You go down first and then, baby face. No, it's not very good, madam. No, I'm not going to let you do it. Give me that gun! Look out, you fool! Look out! Down there after her. And hurry. Watch out while I get the gun. Oh, that was nice work. I was going to try to take on myself. I didn't mean to do it. I was just trying to get the gun, but she tripped, fell. Oh, not to strange. Yes. Why is she lying there so funny? Her head. Wait a minute. Let me see. The neck's broken. She's dead. Oh, no. That means... That means I killed her. Not any more than it means I killed Felix. Well, Miss Hines, I think you must believe me now. I asked you for the last time. Do you know what's behind all this? I told you. I don't. Mr. Rayfield was always wonderful to me. And he all... Oh, look. They are lying next to her. Must have fallen out of her bag. Isn't there another chess piece? Yes. The black queen. He gave me one, just like him. I first came to work for him. Only it was a white one. What? Yes, a white one. Black queen, white queen, white knight. And... No, it's impossible. And still... What is it? It's too incredible. But I've just gotten an idea. A mad, fantastic idea that... Come on. We're going to the police. Go ahead, Dr. Strayer. Mr. Rayfield. What do you mean? But remember, it's my move now. Rayfield's move. With three pieces removed from the board already, three corpses, and the hands of the clock still moving toward the witching hour and more. Murder. Admit. Now, back to murder at midnight and death across the board. It's about a half hour later. And sitting in the office of police chief Adams, Dr. Strand has just finished his account of everything that has happened. There is silence for a minute. And then without looking at either Strand or Alice, Adams says... So, you each bumped someone off, eh? And you've come here to give yourselves up. No. No, we certainly didn't come here to give ourselves up. I told you that in both cases, it was self-defense. We're here because there's a madman loose, a homicidal maniac, and you've got to do something about it. A guy that just goes around bumping people off for fun, eh? Or rather gets other people to do his killing for it. Oh, no, there's much more to it than that. Much more. Yeah? What? Well, it just came to me a little while ago. Well, that's nice. There was something strangely familiar about this Raphael. Did you ever hear of Raphael Norbert? No. He was one of the greatest chess players in the world, one practically every tournament in the books. And then about five years ago, he disappeared. Well, I believe he's playing another chess game now, the maddest game that ever was. Is there a map of the city around here? Yeah, right there on the wall. Now, let me see. Now, here's Raphael's shop. And... Yes, this would be it. This section of the city here, eight blocks each way, this is his chess board. And human beings, people like Alice and me, are his chessmen. What? I know it sounds fantastic, but I think it's true. Now, when he sent me to Felix's, he told me to go down two blocks and one to the right. That's a knight's move. In other words, he had cast me as one of the white knights in his insane murderous game. Alice was the white queen, he himself was the black king, and so on. He just lined up all these people, said, You play this piece, you play that. Oh, no, no. That was the beauty of the game, the fascinating, exciting part to him. No one knew that they were playing in it, but he. Felix didn't know that he was a black rook any more than I knew I was a white knight. But Raphael's black pieces were all criminals of some sort who wouldn't hesitate to kill. And it was by killing that one piece took another. You see, that was the ultimate refinement of the game. He could plan a move, but he had no way of telling which piece would take which. What do you mean? Now, for instance, I killed Felix instead of his killing me. In other words, Raphael was not only playing his game against law and order, against society, but he was matching his brain against that of every other piece in the game. Against law and order, eh? Uh, I got this in the mail a couple of weeks ago without any letter or anything like that. How would this fit in with your theory? The White King? Of course. That means he's playing this game principally against you. Now, do you believe us, Mr. Adams? Do you? I don't know. I... Well, I suppose it's possible. We've been having a funny kind of crime wave lately. Killings without any apparent motive. Excuse me. Hello? Hello, Chief. Melody speaking. Yes, Melody. I'm down to corner third and second one. There's something kind of screwy going on. Hello? Hello? Melody! What's the matter? One of our detectives down at third and sycamore, and it sounded like somebody got him. Now make sure about this before you answer, but would this be part of what you were talking about? Well, let's look at the map again. Third and sycamore. That would be in the area. That's Raphael's chessboard. Yes, I think it is. Okay, come on. We're going down there and see. There he is. Lying next to the call box. Here. He's dead. Stabbed. John. Yes? Mr. Adams. Look there. Lying next to him. Another chess piece. Yeah. Here's a pawn. A white pawn. Well, of course. If you're the white king, then all your men would be pawns. Pawns, huh? They're the pieces that get pushed around, aren't they? Well, they're the ones that are usually sacrificed. Two of my men, Riley and Melody. Okay, Strand. If this Raphael wants to play, I'll play with him. Then you do believe us. Yes. You're a chess player, Strand. Do you think you can figure out what this Raphael character is going to do next and tell me how I can meet him? I might. I only got a very quick look at the board, but if I could remember the location of the pieces... You mean he's actually got a board set up showing where all the pieces everybody is? There's one set up on a little table right next to his desk. No one's allowed to touch it. That's the one. I think I remember the position of the pieces that were left, but some moves may have been made since I saw it last. Well, what are we fooling around here? Let's go to the shop and make sure. That's the store, right there. Because if anyone's there... Locked, all right. You have a key, haven't you, Alice? No. Rafeel never gave me one. He always locked up himself. Well, what do we do? Two of my men killed him. You ask me a question like that. You think I'm going to play legal and wait for a search warrant? Look out. Okay. Now, where's the light? Right here. There's the chessboard over there. Yes, I know. Let's take a look at it. There's all there is to the place. Except for the seller. She must still be down there. The woman in black... We'll go down there later. Well, Strand? Well, at the moment, black seems to have the edge on us. Several moves have been made and we've lost several pieces, but we've still got a fair chance. Oh, the devil was winning that game. Where's this Rafeel guy, the black king? And what's he going to do next? Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Just give me another minute or two, will you? The black king is still in his own square, which would seem to mean that he's still here someplace. But the thing is, I'm not sure whose move it is now. You're right, Dr. Strand. And it's mine. What fun is it? There's Rafeel speaking over some kind of a loud speaker system, maybe from the seller. All right, I'm going to see. I'll find out. Oh, Alice. Alice, where are you? Here. Are you all right? I think so. What was it? Well, he must have had the place mined or set a booby trap. And when Adams went to open the cellar door, he... Where is Adams? I'm not sure, but I... I think he's over there. I must have some matches someplace. Here's here. Oh, under that beam there. Oh. Help me lift it off. Oh. Adams. Adams. Is he...? Nobody's badly hurt and losing blood. We've got to get him to a hospital fast. Now, watch it. This way. The emergency ward is right in there. How do you know? Well, I ought to. I interned here. It's funny, there's no one around. Now, put him right there on the table. All right. Easy, easy, easy. That's it. Hello. There's Dr. Strand speaking from the emergency ward. I have a very severe accident case here. Is there anyone around who can take care of him? What about surgery? Crandall? Oh, fine. Will you ask him to get down here as soon as possible? Thanks. The shop I used to know is just finished in operation. He'll be down right away. There'll still be time? Yes, I think so. We'll have to give him a transfusion once we get him patched up. Now, I'd better rustle up a sterile uniform for myself in case Crandall needs a hand. If I remember, they used to keep them in here. Isn't there anything I can do? Just keep an eye on him. The tourniquet's particularly. It'd be just too bad if he lost any more blood. Right. He's still unconscious, but I think... That's you, Crandall. I'm awfully glad you're here. Pretty serious case. Adams, chief of police. An explosion. Oh? There's no time to go into the whole story now. But if we don't work fast, we may lose him. I only had a chance to make... What are you doing? Removing the tourniquet's. No, no, no, wait. I'm not ready with the ligatures yet. You're not Crandall. You... You're Rayfield. What? I talked to Strand. Raphael Norbert. But the Crandall is still in surgery. Locked in, as a matter of fact. I put on this mask and gown, not because I thought it would fool you, but because, well, somehow it just seemed appropriate. Well, it can't be you. You were in the shop. No, Dr. Strand. If you're thinking of my voice as you guessed, it was coming over a loudspeaker system from next door. And if you're thinking of my position on the chessboard, you forget that I had not made my move yet, huh? You probably expected a Brodsky endgame. That would have been the classical move. But I played a variation of it. You cast right. What? I know you do not play chess, my dear Miss Hines. Castling is a move in which the king changes places with one of the castles or hooks. It was a move which brought me here to the hospital waiting for you. Mr. Rayfield, I don't know why you've done everything you have, and I don't care, but you've got to let us do something about Mr. Adams, all that blood he's losing. Yes, Rayfield, for heaven's sake. No, do not move, either of you. I do not want to have to shoot, but I sincerely hope it will not be necessary. To all, when the chief dies, the game will be over. And the most interesting game it has been. But haven't there been enough deaths already? You are very sentimental, my dear. I'm afraid you would never make a good chess player. Pieces have been taken, that's all. But suppose we just give up? Say you've won. That's right, Rayfield. We'll concede you the game, but let me do something about Adams. There's still time. I've got everything ready here, all the instruments. No, that's a mistake. This is one game I will not concede, that I insist on having played out to the last move. Well, if that's the way you want it, all right. And if I'm not mistaken, it's my move now. And here! Oh, my God! If a maldehyde won't help the money, get his gun, Alice! Yes! Watch him while I get these tourniquets back on Adams. Do you think you can still save him? Yes, his pulse is weak, but I think we can still save him. As for you, Rayfield, you made one bad mistake. You forgot that three of us killed each other. You forgot that three of us came to your shop. The white king, white queen, and white knight. That would put you in check. And you can't castle when you're in check. I bow, Dr. Strand. I felicitate and congratulate you. But if I have to lose, I prefer to lose in my own way. Look out, Alice! Watch him! He went through the window. Shall I call the police? Get them to go after him? No. There's a railroad underpass right outside. A drop of about 60 feet. I think that's game, match, and tournament. One last move and the game is over. Over as we'd like to have all our stories end with a final murder at midnight. Remember to be with us again when death moves his black chessman in the clock strike 12 for... Murder! The part of Dr. John Strand was played by Eric Dressler. With music by Charles Paul, Murder at Midnight was directed by Anton M. Leder.