 Lipton tea and Lipton soup present inner sanctum mysteries. Friends of the inner sanctum? This is your host. Welcome again through the squeaking door. Did you miss us? You know, we haven't been around to haunt you these last eight weeks. Yes, that's right. Death takes a vacation. Where have we been? We spent our vacation in a nice cool place. Underground. Of course, we missed your smiling faces, but where we went, everybody grinned. Yes, they couldn't help it. They were grinning skulls. Too bad you couldn't all come along. Good evening, Mr. Host. Well, hello, Mary Bennett. Say, Mary, on my vacation, I met someone who had something very nice to say about Lipton tea. Yes, it was a ghost. And he said the flavor of Lipton's was out of this world. I suppose you think that's a real testimonial. But of course, no other product has ever been endorsed by a ghost. Well, I can tell you that Lipton's isn't looking for such compliments. What pleases them is the fact that more real people drink Lipton tea than any other brand. And what's more, they drink it all year round. Right now, lots of folks are enjoying Lipton's as an iced beverage. Because it certainly makes a cold meal taste better. Yes, and Lipton's iced tea is grand between meals too. It's a welcoming, refreshing drink to serve when your guests drop in at your house. You see, Lipton tea has that famous brisk flavor. Now that word brisk, B-R-I-S-K, means that Lipton's always tastes fresh and full-bodied, never flatter, wishy-washy. So, get acquainted with Lipton's real soon, won't you folks? Yes, and if you'd like to get acquainted with murder real soon, then listen to Dead Man's Deal. It's an original radio play by that chill master, Amel Teperman. And our star tonight is Larry Haines, who plays the role of Joe Lester. It all happened to Joe Lester, who's really a small time gambler who had no business in that big time game with Barney Flood and Dan Kilmer and Nick Zapparetti and the others. But it's really Lester's story. Oh, here he is to tell it to you. I guess it was the biggest poker game I ever took a hand in. It was in Barney Flood's room, number 327, a Brandon Hotel. They were all big shots. I had to play a careful game. I only had about $3,000. And if I didn't nurse it, a single deal could wipe me out. It's a matter of the start. I ain't kind of tight on Joe. Whatever, Barney, plan some time to play his own game, isn't he? Sure, sure. Maybe you don't belong in this one. And he'd guts for this game. You tell him, Dan. Maybe Lester doesn't know what guts are. Now listen, you. Don't try to get tough, Lester. It wouldn't be healthy. Lester sought me, Dan. So because I took his girl away from him, how did you lester? Suppose we leave Louise out of this, Barney. She prefers you, that's okay with me. That's mighty big of you, Lester. That's why I hated Barney Flood. He'd taken Louise away from me. And Louise was the only thing in the world I loved. And what was worse, Barney Flood and his man Dan Kilmer were laughing at me because they knew I didn't have the guts to do anything about it. But then it came. The hand I'd been waiting for. Dan Kilmer was dealing. Barney Flood opened blind. I opened for a thousand. I dropped. The others all dropped out. But when I picked up my five cards, I found I had three aces. This was the way I'd wanted it. Just Barney Flood and me. And they were the strong hand before the buy. Now I'd show them who had guts. I counted out $2,000 and $100 bills and shoved them out on a table. I see you, Barney. And raise your thousand. So our little lester's waking up. Okay, I see the raise. Just the two of us, huh? How many cards, Barney? One. Right. And how many do you want, Big Shot? I'll take two. Yeah. My hands were a little clammy as I picked them up. I looked at the cards. And suddenly I felt as if I'd inherited the whole universe. I had bought an extra ace. I held four aces. Well, Big Shot, I bought something here. I think it's the winning hand. I'm going to bet the works. Here. All the cash I have with me. $90,000. I felt the sweat on my hands as I watched them push the money out on a table. $90,000 he was betting. And I had him beat with my four aces. But I couldn't see his bet. All I had was about $1,000. Come on, Big Shot. What are you waiting for? You know, I haven't got that much money. And you should be playing in this game, Tin Horn. You're taking advantage of me, Barney. You're trying to show me up. You know, I have to drop out even with a better hand. Oh, so you think you have a better hand, eh? Make the bet inside my limit and you'll see. All right, Lester. You'll see what kind of a gambler you really are. Here, I'll withdraw this $90,000 bet. I'll make another kind of bet. The bet you can see. If you have the guts. Well, what kind of bet? I'll bet my life against your life. The man who loses this deal agrees to commit suicide. For a full minute after Barney Flood made his proposition, the room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Barney Flood and I sat facing each other across the table. Our clothes cards in our hands. These were the biggest stakes men had ever played for. A life against a life. The other players were stunned and frightened by it. They wanted no part of it. One by one they made lame excuses and faded from the room. Hi, Dan. Only Dan Kilmer was left with Barney me. Look, Barney. Why should you risk your life against this punk's life? This is the way it's going to be, Dan. Lester hates me. Don't you, Lester? Yes, Barney. I hate you. You see, Dan, he hates me because deep down inside of him, he knows he isn't as good as I am. All right? This is the showdown. One of us walks out of this room alive. The loser stays here with a bullet in his brain. Is that okay with you, Lester? Yeah. Yeah, sure it's okay with me, but I don't want Dan in the room. It's just between you and me. Let him go out before we uncover our cards. All right, well, let's invite... You heard him, Dan, just the two of us. Okay. Maybe we can hear on the table, Dan. I don't like... Do as I say. Okay. Thanks. Now go down to the lobby and wait. So long. I'll be waiting in the lobby. Okay, Lester. There's no backing out now. We'll open our hands. The loser picks up that gun and blows his brains out. This was the minute I'd been waiting for. My lips were dry. I wet them with my tongue. Now at last I had Bernie flood exactly where I wanted him. Okay, Bernie. Read them and weep. How do you like these? One ace, two aces, three aces, four aces. How do you like them, Bernie? Four aces, huh? I kept my eyes on Bernie. I wanted him to look the last drop of satisfaction out of that moment. But he was a born gambler. His face didn't show a thing. He sighed and slowly he began to turn over his own cards. Three of hearts, four of hearts, five of hearts, six of hearts, seven of hearts. A straight flush. Well, Lester, a straight flush beats four of a kind. You only bought one kind. That's right. I went in with three, four, five and six of hearts. I bought the seven of hearts. A straight flush, eh? I can't believe it. I've lost. Yes, Lester. You've lost. You've lost your life. And the gambler always pays up. Here's the gun, Lester. Go ahead. A gambler always pays up. I curled my finger around the trigger. I stood up and leaned across the table. I pointed the gun at Barney, flooding my shot of him in the head. Now I had to work fast and carefully. I had it all figured out. When I shot Barney, I leaned over the tables so the barrel of the gun was close to his head. There were powder burns on his temple around the wound. I wiped my fingerprints off the gun and pressed Barney's hand around the barrel. Next I turned my attention to the card table. This was important. I left my four races intact where I laid them out. But I changed Barney's hand slightly. I removed the seven of hearts, replaced it in a deck and rippled through it. I found the seven of diamonds. I substituted this for the seven of hearts. Now Barney's hand was no longer a straight flush. It was an ordinary straight. And my four races were better. So now it looked as if I had won the game. I was ready. I picked up the phone and asked the operator to connect me with the police. Hello. Police headquarters. This is Joe Lester. I'm in room 327 of the Brandon Hotel. Barney flood has just committed suicide. It looks as if Lester has carefully set the stage for foul play. He has to be careful if he wants people to believe that Barney has committed suicide. Because that's the last thing in the world a man would do. How about it, Mary? What side are you betting on? I'll give you odds that Lester isn't caught. Why, you know very well that I don't bet. Oh, come on, Mary. I'll tell you what. I'll bet you my Sunday shroud against a package of Lipton tea. My gracious, I never know what you're going to say next. But I still don't believe in gambling. And folks, if you feel the same way about it, then I know you'll like Lipton tea because you can always be sure of its flavor. Tea experts describe that flavor by saying it's brisk. B-R-I-S-K. And brisk flavor means that Lipton's always tastes fresh and vigorous, never flat or insipid. Lipton's is a real experience in tea drinking. That's why I always say that you don't know how good tea can be till you know how good Lipton's is. And now, let's go back to Joe Lester. Let's see if his airtight scheme to make Barney flood's murder look like suicide goes over with the police. Yes, and let's hope it's not so airtight that it leaves him dangling in air at the end of a hangman's noose. At headquarters, all the players told the same story. How Barney Flood had proposed a suicide bet and how they'd all cleared out. Inspector Larkin dismissed them all, leaving only Dan Kilmer and myself in the office with him and the stenographer. Now, you, Kilmer. Yes, Inspector. You were Barney Flood's right-hand man? Well, you know I have a private detective's license. Barney paid me to be his bodyguard. You worked for Barney a long time? That's right. Lester says you left your gun on the table. Is that right? That's right. And I went out. Okay, Lester, it's your story from here. What happened after Kilmer went out? Well, Barney and I uncovered our hands. He had a small straight, but I had four aces. You saw the cards lying there on the table? Yeah, I saw them. What happened then? Well, Barney said, well, I guess I lose. He picked up the gun. I tried to stop him, but he said a gambler always pays up. And he put the gun to his head to pull the trigger before I could stop him. Hmm. How do you think of that story, Kilmer? I think he lies. How do you think so? I can't say. Yeah, that's no evidence. Looks like suicide. I'm afraid there's no charge told, John Lester. And we say was. You mean I'm free to go? Yeah, sure. Go on. Get out. Dan Kilmer gave me a dirty look, but I only grinned at him. I got up and went to the door. Everything was going my way. I was rid of Barney Flood. I'd committed the perfect murder. And now I was free to go to Louise. What's awful funny? What's awful funny, Louise? How Barney killed himself. He's a drink. Oh, thanks. There's nothing funny about it. He lost and he paid off. Yeah, I know, but... somehow I can't imagine Barney losing a hand like that. Now listen, Louise, you stop thinking about Barney. He's dead seeing I'm alive and I'm not letting any other man have you. Is that plain? Yes, darling, it's plain. Come here, baby. That's better. You know, I'm crazy about you. You seem to have changed. You seem so strong. Yeah, you bet. But now why nothing stops me? Yeah, you know what? We're getting married. Tamara, we won't wait. I'd better answer the phone. I'll let it ring. No, you better let me answer it. Well, okay, go ahead, but make it snappy, will you? I will, darling. Hello. Yes, this is Plaza 87790. I watched her at the phone. And she was more beautiful than anything I'd ever known. That was the happiest I'll ever be. That one short moment while I watched her at the phone. And then it was over. Yes, he's here, but... Who is this? What are you talking about? Let me please... Before he strailed off into a sob, and she opened up. She looked as if all her life had been drained out of her body by that phone call. Louise, who was that? Who was that on the phone? What did he say? He... He said, remind you about the... about the Seven of Hearts. He said, you know what he meant. The card I'd substituted in Barney Flood's hand. I bet no one could know about the Seven of Hearts. Barney was the only one. And he was dead. Who gave you that message, Louise? Who was that on the phone? He... He didn't give his name, but I recognized the voice. Louise, for heaven's sakes, tell me who it was. I... I can't believe it, but I... I swear it was Barney Flood. And then the phone rang again. It's the phone again. He's calling back. I'll answer it. Pushed Louise off their side, slowly I walked toward the ringing phone almost in the days, and picked it up. I think I must have been expecting it, because I wasn't surprised when I heard that voice. I only felt numb. But signed the house. I wanted to talk to me about the Seven of Hearts. And he was waiting outside. But who? I dropped the phone and went to the window, pulled back the blind and peered out. At first... At first I saw nothing. And then... And then I spotted him. A shadowy figure standing in a doorway across the street with his hat brim pulled low over his face. And just then a car swept down the street. Its headlights illuminated the doorway. And I got a quick look at the face. There was blood stripping from under the hat brim. I'll never remember how I managed to get out of Louise's apartment. Not the front way. I didn't go a day ago out into the street with that shadowy figure waiting out there. I stumbled blindly down the back stairs, flight after flight almost stripping, skinning my hands on a banister, bruising my elbows, but I didn't care when to get away, away from there. Taxi, mister? Huh? What? Taxi, mister. Taxi? Yeah, yeah, sure. Get going. Quick. Sure, but where to? Well, I didn't care anywhere. Anywhere as long as it was away from here. Home. Home. That was the place. I'd go home and shut myself up and not answer the phone. Seventeen Glidden Roads. Quick. Run. Heave the sigh of relief as we pulled away. Out of pure instinct, I suppose, I looked out the rear window. Suddenly the blood began to pound in my head like a thunderous avalanche. Because back there at the corner was that same shadowy figure. Getting into another cab, pointing after my taxi. Faster, faster, drive. You gotta go faster. What's wrong, mister? Look, that cab behind us. Twenty dollars if you lose it. What cab? That one, you fool, a cab behind us. One of us must be nuts. Maybe you had a couple too many. There isn't any cab behind it. I turned around and looked again. My driver was right. The street was empty as far back as I could see. Mr. Seventeen Glidden Roads. I got out of the cab and saw that the driver was looking at me as if he thought I was drunk or crazy. My shirt was wet with perspiration and my head began to throb and everything swam before my eyes. And a voice began to whisper in my ear like a terrible refrain. Seven of hearts. Seven of hearts. Seven of hearts. A leech, weakly against the taxi cab. Seven of hearts. This room, mister, looked down the street. Seven of hearts. Seven of hearts. The same shadowy figure with a head and a low over the bloody face. Seven of hearts. Walking toward me. Seven of hearts. Told me. Seven of hearts. Coming toward me faster. Seven of hearts. And the refrain early in my ears. Seven of hearts. I flung myself into the cab. Seven of hearts. I wanted safety. Seven of hearts. Drive the police. Seven of hearts. I said quarters. I burst into Inspector Larkin's office. He was in there talking to Dan Kilmer. What's your idea of barging in here, mister? I got to talk to you, Inspector. What's wrong? Big shot. You look all broken up. You keep out of this, Dan. I've come to see you, Inspector. How do you want? I want protection. You got to protect me. Protect you against whom? Against Bonnie Flood. He's come back. This ain't gag. No, no, no. It's no gag. You guys gone nuts. No, I tell you, Bonnie Flood's come back. At first, I thought it was a foolish. But now I'm sure it's Bonnie Flood. How do you know it's Bonnie Flood? Because I stopped short. I'd almost said too much. I couldn't tell him about the set of the hearts. I couldn't tell him why I was sure it couldn't be anybody else, but Bonnie Flood. Get out of here, mister. I've got no time to wait. But you've got to sign an officer to protect me. I'm afraid to go home. Look, Esther, I think you're going nuts the way Dan says. Why sign an officer to you? Everybody'd say I was going nuts, too. Signing a cop to protect a man against a ghost. I insist. Get out! Look, Dan, will you help me? What? Help me? You're not working now, are you? No, I lost my job when Bonnie died. Well, look, how about a job? Waking for me. Protecting me, huh? Against a ghost? Against Bonnie Flood's ghost? Oh, what do you care as long as I pay you? Okay, Lester. You've hired me. Good. Come on, then. Come home with me. I want you to sit up with me all night, huh? Dan Kilmer came home with me. And we sat up, wiling the time away, playing two-handed poker. My deal, Lester. Yeah. Yeah, sure. So you're really scared, aren't you, Lester? Don't laugh at me, Dan. You'd be scared, too, if you'd seem like so. You mean, like the guy with the blood on his face? How'd you know about that? And the telephone call about the seminar hearts? The seminar. I figured that stuff would sort of get you on edge. What do you mean? I mean that I'm the one that planted that man outside Louisa's apartment. That was me on the telephone. You? Sure. That cab driver was my man, too. I had him planted out in back of Louisa's house. He was waiting for you to come out the back way. You see, Lester, I had you figured right. Every move. You did all that? What was the idea? I wanted to get you right here. Like this. Afraid of your own shadow. What? What for? Pick them up. Pick up the cards. I stared at them. It was four of Asus. The same hand I'd held with Barney Flood. How would you like to make a little bet on your hand, Lester? Against mine. Say, your life against my life. What do you mean? Don't you get it, you? Here, I'll turn my cards over for you. See? Three of hearts, four of hearts, five of hearts, six of hearts, and a seven of hearts. You see, Lester, my hand does have the seven of hearts in it. So that Barney Flood's, before you took it out. How do you know about the seven of hearts? For a long time, Dan Kilmer didn't say anything. He just sat there, looking at me. Then he got up, took out his gun, laid it on a table, and he went to the door. How did I know about the seven of hearts? You see, Lester, I dealt the other hand, too. Barney Flood was right. A gambler must always pay up. The gun is ready on a table. And now, I'm ready, too. Lester, he's in a very grave situation now. So grave, he needs the help of an undertaker. But he was only a beginner in crime. He might have done better if he hadn't come to such an untimely end. Well, I've got no sympathy to waste on him. He shouldn't have gotten into that poker game in the first place. Oh, I don't know. I never forget the time I played stripped poker with a bunch of ghosts. Hey, was I lucky that day? She should have seen those ghosts shedding their ectoplasm. I declare, I don't know why you're always talking about ghosts. Oh, they're such lucky guys. They always keep cool. Even in the summer, the least little breeze goes right through them. Well, I'd rather be a human being. Real honest folks have a good way of keeping cool, too. They just make themselves a refreshing pitcher of Lipton's iced tea. Yes, there's nothing like Lipton's to perk you up on a hot day. I guess it's that famous brisk flavor that makes all the difference. It's so rich and lively. Whether you drink it iced or hot, there's nothing that can beat Lipton's. The tea with the brisk flavor. Now a word of advice. You can't afford to gamble with death because the loser never gets a chance to stage a comeback. And what's more, friends? If all the corpses on this program were laid end to end, they'd be a lot more comfortable. Oh, by the way, this month's Inner Sanctum mystery novel is Puzzle for Wantons by Patrick Quenton. Yes, a next week's Inner Sanctum story directed by Hyman Brown and brought to you by Lipton Tea and Lipton Soup. Next week's story is gonna blow the tubes in your radio. It's about a beautiful woman who marries a dead man. Now there's an unusual romance. And this graveyard Romeo has second sight and always knows who's going to be murdered next. Well, of course he's got second sight. He lost his first sight when he died, see? Now it's time to close the squeaking door until next Tuesday. So, good night. Pleasant dreams. Even with a cold meal, most of us have a craving for one hot dish. Well, why not make that one hot dish Lipton's noodle soup? You see, Lipton's has a real old-fashioned taste, a chickeny taste, just like real homemade chicken soup. And yet it's so easy to prepare. That's because Lipton's comes in an envelope. You just empty the contents of the envelope into boiling water and in no time at all, soup's on just as quick and simple as that. And yet Lipton's noodle soup is blessed with a real chickeny flavor and it's brim full of tender golden egg noodles. So, folks, don't forget Lipton's noodle soup. And don't forget to tune in next Tuesday night for another Inner Sanctum Mystery.