 Now, the Roma Wine Company of Fresno, California, presents Suspense. Tonight in response to requests from many thousands of listeners, Roma Wines bring you the Metro Golden Maier star, Miss Agnes Moorhead, in Sorry Wrong Number, a suspense play produced, edited and directed for Roma Wines by William Spear. Suspense, Radio's Outstanding Theatre of Thrills, is presented for your enjoyment by Roma Wines. That's R-O-M-A, Roma Wine, those excellent California wines that can add so much pleasantness to the way you live, to your happiness and entertaining guests, to your enjoyment of everyday meals. Before we bring you Agnes Moorhead and our suspense play, here's a message from Roma Wines. Today, big transports were warped into piers on both sides of the continent. Thousands of Americans came home, home for good. If you are waiting for someone to come running up your steps, you must have filled your pantry with good things to enjoy. One of the good things to enjoy is Roma California Sherry, as first called a dinner or later in the evening. In the words of famed hostess Elsa Maxwell, there is nothing friendlier, nothing more heartwarming than delicious Roma Sherry. A good and happy wine, gold and amber with a rich nut-like taste. Serve cool. Roma Sherry, like all famous Roma Wines, is made from carefully selected grapes from California's choicest vineyards. Grapes gathered at the peak of their flavored goodness when every grape is hanging firm and full on the vine. Quickly but gently pressed, then by a process as slow as time, brought to delicious liquid perfection and bottled in Roma's famed wineries. Always unvaryingly good, yet Roma Wines cost only pennies a glass. Remember, because of uniformly fine quality at reasonable cost, more Americans enjoy Roma than any other wine. R-O-M-A, Roma Wines. Yes, right now a glassful would be very pleasant as Roma Wines bring you a remarkable tale of suspense. And with sorry wrong number, Lucille Fletcher's incomparable study in terror, and with the performance of Miss Agnes Moorhead, Roma Wines hope indeed to keep you in suspense. Operator, I've been dialing Murray Hill 4098 now for the last few quarters of an hour, and the line is always busy. I don't see how it could be busy that long. Will you try it for me, please? I will be glad to try that number for you one moment, please. I don't see how it could be busy all this time. It's my husband's office. He's working late tonight, and I'm all alone here in the house. My health is very poor, and I've been feeling so nervous all day. Ringing Murray Hill 4098. Is Mr. Stevens in there? What number am I calling, please? I'm here with our client. Oh, good. Is everything okay? The post clear for tonight? Yes, George. He says the coast is clear for tonight. Okay, okay. Where are you now? The phone booth. Don't worry. Everything's okay. Very well. You know the address. I know, I know. At 11 o'clock, the private patrolman goes around to the bar on 2nd Avenue for a beer. That's right. 11 o'clock. Sure that all the lights downstairs are out. There should be only one light visible from the street. Okay. Just a minute, George. Oh, our client tells me that an 1115 train crosses the bridge. It makes a noise in case our window is open, and she should scream. Oh, hello. What number is this, please? Oh, do you remember everything else, George? Yes. That's right. You'll use a knife. Yeah, those are rings and bracelets. Oh, how unspeakably hot. Operator, I've just been cut off. I'm sorry. What number were you calling? Why, it was supposed to be Murray Hill 40098, but it wasn't. Some wires must have got crossed. I was caught in the wrong number, and I've just heard the most dreadful thing, something about a murder. Operator, you'll simply have to retrace that call at once. I beg your pardon. I don't quite... May I help you? Well, I know it was a wrong number, and I had no business listening, but these two men, they were cold-blooded beings, and they were going to murder somebody, some poor innocent woman who was all alone in a house near a bridge, and we've got to stop them. We just got to. What number are you calling, please? Well, that doesn't matter. This was a wrong number, and you dialed it for me, and we've got to find out what it was immediately. What number did you call? Why are you so stupid? What time is it? Do you mean to tell me you can't find out what that number was just now? I'll connect you with the chief operator. Oh, I think it's perfectly shameful. Now, look. Look, it was obviously a case of some little slip of the finger. I told you to try Murray Hill 40098 for me, and you dialed it, but your finger must have slipped, and I was connected with some other number, and I could hear them, but they couldn't hear me. Now, I simply failed to see why you couldn't make that same mistake again on purpose, why you couldn't try to dial Murray Hill 40098 in the same sort of careless way. Murray Hill 40098, I will try to get it for you. Oh, thank you. Operator. Operator. Operator. Your call, please. You didn't try to get that wrong number at all. I ask you explicitly, and all you did was dial correctly. I am sorry. What number are you calling? Well, can't you for once forget what number I'm calling and do something for me? Now, I want to trace that call. It's my civic duty, and it's your civic duty to trace that call, and apprehend those dangerous killers, and if you won't, I will connect you with the chief operator. This is the chief operator. Oh, a chief operator. I want you to trace a call, a telephone call, immediately. I don't know where it came from, or who was making it, but it's absolutely necessary that it be tracked down because it was about a murder that someone's planning, a terrible, cold-blooded murder of a poor, innocent woman tonight. At 11.15. I see. Well, can you trace it for me? Can you track down those men? I'm not certain. It depends. Depends on what? It depends on whether the call is still going on. Well, a live call, we can trace it on the equipment. If it's been disconnected, we can. If the parties have stopped talking to each other. Oh, well, well, of course they must have stopped talking to each other by now. That was at least five minutes ago, and they didn't sound like the type that would make a long call. Well, I can try tracing it. May I have your name, please? Mrs. Stevenson, Mrs. Albert Stevenson. But listen up. And your telephone number, please. Plaza 32098. But if you go on... Why do you want this call traced, please? Why? Oh, well, no reason. I mean, I merely felt very strongly that something ought to be done about it. These men sounded like killers. They're dangerous. They're going to murder this woman at 11.15 tonight, and I thought the police ought to know. Have you reported this to the police? Well, no, no, not yet. You want this call checked purely as a private individual? Yes, yes, but meanwhile... Well, I'm sorry, Mrs. Stevenson, but I'm afraid we couldn't make this check for you and trace the call just on your say-so as a private individual. But I... He had to have something more official. Oh, for heaven's sake. You mean to tell me I can't report that there's going to be a murder without getting tied up in all this red tape? Why, it's perfectly idiotic. Well, all right, all right, I'll call the police. Thank you. I'm sure that'll be the best way to... I never heard of this, no. Police, you have to go. Police department, get me the police department, please. Thank you. Oh, dear, do you have to dial? Why can't you ring them direct? Oh, it's... Please, Sergeant Martin speaking. Police department, this is Mrs. Stevenson, Mrs. Elbert Smy Stevenson of 53 North Sutton Place. I'm calling up to report a murder. I mean, the murder hasn't been committed yet, but I just overheard plans for it over the telephone. Over a wrong number that the operator gave me, and I've been trying to trace down the call myself, but everybody is so stupid, and I guess in the end you're the only people who could do anything. Yes, ma'am. Well, it was a perfectly definite murder. I heard their plans distinctly. Two men were talking, and they were going to murder some woman at 11.15 tonight. She lived in a house here, a bridge. Are you listening to me? Oh, yes, ma'am. And there was a private patrolman on the street. He was going to go around for a beer on 2nd Avenue, and there was some third man, a client, who was paying to have this poor woman murdered. They were going to take her rings and bracelets, and he was a knife. Well, it's unnerved me dreadfully, and I'm not well. I'm very nervous. I see, I see. And when was all this, ma'am? Well, about eight minutes ago. Then you can do something. You do understand. What is your name, ma'am? Mrs. Stevenson. Mrs. Albert Stevenson. And your address? 5353 North Sutton Place. That's near a bridge. The Queensborough Bridge, you know, and we have a private patrolman on our street, and 2nd Avenue is the next bridge. And what was the number you were calling, ma'am? Murray Hill 40098. But that wasn't the number I overheard. I mean, Murray Hill 40098 is my husband's office. Well, he's working late tonight, and I was trying to reach him to ask him to come home. I'm an invalid, you know, and it's the maid's night off, and I hate to be alone even though he says I'm perfectly safe as long as I have the telephone right beside my bed. Well, we'll look into it, Mrs. Stevenson, and see if we can check it with the telephone. But the telephone company said they couldn't check the call of the party that stopped talking. I've already taken care of that. Oh, you have. Yes, I have. Personally, I feel you ought to do something far more immediate and drastic than just check the call. What good is checking the call if they stop talking by the time you drag it down, they'll already have committed the murder. Well, we'll take care of it now, don't you worry. I'd say the whole thing calls for a search, a complete and thorough search of the whole city. Yes, ma'am. I'm very near the bridge, and I'm not far from 2nd Avenue, and I know I'd feel a whole lot better if you sent around a radio car to this neighborhood at once. And what makes you think the murder's going to be committed in your neighborhood, ma'am? Well, I... I don't know. Only the coincidence is so horrible. 2nd Avenue is the patrolman, the bridge. Well, look, you see, 2nd Avenue is a very long street, ma'am. Well, I know that. You know how many bridges there are in the city of New York alone? Yeah. Not to mention Brooklyn, Staten Island, Queens, and the Bronx. Well... And how do you know that there isn't some little house on Staten Island on some little 2nd Avenue? You never heard about it? Well... How do you know they were even talking about New York at all? I heard the call on the New York Dialing System. Well, maybe it was a long-distance call. Oh, I... Well, telephones are a funny thing. But I did... Now, look, lady, look. Why don't you look at it this way? Now, supposing you hadn't broken in on that telephone call. Suppose you got your husband the way you always do. So upset with you. Well, I... No, I suppose not. Only it sounded so inhuman, so cold-hearted. A lot of murders are plotted in this city every day, ma'am, and we manage to prevent almost all of them. But a clue of this kind is so vague, ma'am. Well, it ain't much more used to us than no clue at all. Like, surely you can undo... Unless, of course, you have some reason for thinking this call was a phony and that someone may be planning to murder you. Me? Oh. No, no. I hardly think so. I mean, why should anybody? Well, here... I'm alone all day and night. I see nobody except my maid, Eloise. She's a big girl. She weighs 200 pounds. Uh-huh. She's too lazy to bring up my breakfast crate. Uh-huh. And the only other person is my husband, Elbert. He's crazy about me. He just adores me. Yes, ma'am. He was on me hand and foot. He seriously left my side since I took sick 12 years ago. Uh-huh. Well, then... then there's nothing for you. Now, if you'll just leave the rest to us, we'll take care of it. But what will you do? It's so late. It's nearly 11 now. We'll take care of it. Well, will you broadcast it all over the city and send out squads and warn your radio cars to watch out, especially in suspicious neighborhoods like mine? Lady, lady, I said we would take care of it. Now, just now, I've got a couple of other matters here on my desk that require immediate attention. Good night, ma'am. And thanks. Oh, you, you idiot! Now, why did I hang up the phone like that? I am a fool. Oh, why doesn't Elbert come home? Operator. Operator for heaven's sake. Will you ring that Murray Hill 40098 number again? I can't think what's keeping him so long. I will try it for you. Well, try, try. I don't see why it doesn't... I didn't hear it. You don't have to tell me. I know it's busy. This telephone tonight, but it's positively driving me crazy. I've never seen such inefficient miserable service. Now, look. Look, I'm an invalid, and I'm very nervous, and I'm not supposed to be annoyed. But if this keeps on much longer... What seems to be the trouble, please? Well, everything's wrong. I haven't had one bit of satisfaction out of one call I've made this evening. The whole world could be murdered for all you people care, and now my phone keeps ringing and ringing and ringing and ringing every five seconds or so, and when I pick it up, there's no one there. I am sorry if you will hang up. I will test it for you. I don't want you to test it for me. I want you to put that call through whatever it is at once. I'm afraid I cannot do that. You can't ask. The dial system is automatic. If someone is trying to dial your number, there's no way to check whether the call is coming through the system or not, unless the person who is trying to reach you complains to his particular operator. Oh, well, I've got to sit here in my bed suffering every time that phone rings, imagining everything. I will try to check the trouble for you. Check it, check it. That's all anybody can do. Oh, what's the use of talking to you? You are so stupid. Oh, I'm only impudent. Young woman, I don't know your name, but there are ways of finding you out, and I'm going to report you to your superiors for the most unpardonable rudeness and insolence. It's ever been my privilege. Give me the business office at once. You may dial that number direct. Dial it direct now. Do no such thing. I don't even know the number. The number is in the directory, or you may secure it by dialing information. Listen here. Oh, what's the use? Where is she? Where is she? Why doesn't she answer? Didn't you answer at once? Give me the police department. This department can't be busy. There must be other lines available. The line is busy. I will try to get them for you later. Oh, no. I've got to speak to them now. It may be too late. I've got to talk to someone. What number do you wish to speak to, please? I don't know, but there must be someone to protect people inside the police department. A detective agency. You will find agencies listed in the classified directory. But I don't have a classified. I mean, I'm too nervous to look it up, and I don't know how to use the directory. I will connect you with information. Perhaps they will be able to help you. No, not at all. You don't care, do you? Whatever. I can die in you when you can. This is Plaza 32099. This is Western Union. I have a telegram here for Mrs. Albert Stevenson. Is there anyone there to receive the message? Mrs. Stevenson. The telegram is as follows. Mrs. Albert Stevenson, 53 North Sutton Place, New York, New York. Darling, terribly sorry. I tried to get you for the last hour, but lying busy. Leaving for Boston 11 p.m. tonight on urgent business. Back tomorrow afternoon. Keep happy. Love signed. Albert, would you like to deliver a copy of the message? No. No, thank you. Thank you, madam. Good night. Good night. No. But he couldn't do it. Oh, Diane, number for me just once more, please. Telephone number of Hensley Hospital. Hensley Hospital? Do you have the street address? No. No, it's somewhere in the 70s. It's a very small, private and exclusive hospital where I had my appendix out two years ago. Hensley, H-E-N-T. One moment, please. Well, please hurry and please. What is the time? You may find out the time by dialing Meridian 71212. Oh, for God's sake. I've no time to be dialing. The number of Hensley Hospital is Butterfield 8. Nurse's registry. Who was it you wish to speak to, please? I want the nurse's registry at once. I want a trained nurse. I want to hire her immediately for the night. I see. And what is the nature of the case, madam? Nerves. I'm very nervous. I need soothing and companionship. You see, my husband is away. And I've been recommended to us by any doctor in particular, madam. No, but I really don't see why all this cataclysm is necessary. I want a trained nurse. I was a patient in your hospital two years ago. And after all, I do expect to pay this person for attending me. We quite understand that, madam. But we're not completely back on a peacetime basis, you know. I know that. Registered nurses are very scarce just now. And our superintendent has asked to send people out, only on cases where the physician in charge feels it is absolutely necessary. Well, it is absolutely necessary. I'm a sick woman. I'm very upset with this house and I'm an invalid. And tonight I overheard a telephone conversation that upset me dreadfully. A woman's going to be killed when a train... I couldn't say. She went out to suffer at 11 o'clock. Just now on my own telephone. Although someone has lifted the receiver off the hook off the extension telephone downstairs. Downstairs in the kitchen and they're listening to me now. Call someone now while they're still down here. There'll be no time. Operator, I'm in desperate trouble. I don't dare. There's someone listening. Can you hear me now? Got to hear me. Oh, please. Please, you've got to help me. There's someone in this house. Someone who's going to murder me at the extension phone. I'm in the police department. The police department. One moment, please. I will connect you. Oh, I can hear him. Police department? Yeah. The wrong number. Don't worry. Everything's okay. And so closes, sorry wrong number in which Roma Wines have brought you Miss Agnes Moorhead, a star of tonight's study in... Suspense. Suspense is produced, edited and directed by William Spear. Before Miss Moorhead returns to the microphone, this is Truman Bradley with a word for Roma Wines, the sponsor of Suspense. This is the time of year when the air is clear and the hills look as if they had been burnished in gold. At dusk, the color glory of Indian summer paints the countryside. A perfect setting for a simple supper with friends. For a meal brightened by distinguished Roma California Burgundy. In the words of famed hostess Elsa Maxwell, next time you have friends for dinner, add to their enjoyment of the food and give the occasion a gracious festive touch by serving delightful Roma Burgundy. My guests especially enjoy the fruity, robust tart pecancy of Roma Burgundy. A simple way to lend enchantment to dining. Yes, like all Roma wines, you'll enjoy Roma Burgundy. Delightful, delicious, distinguished wine at its best in uniform, fine quality. And here's a hint on how to make better cocktails. Make them with zestful, full-flavored Roma vermouth. The vermouth of almost a hundred rare herbs, made and bottled in the heart of California's famous vineyards. Yet surprisingly low priced. Try Roma vermouth soon, won't you? This is Agnes Morehead. It goes without saying that it has been a major thrill to appear again on suspense with sorry-wrong number. If you enjoyed it, I'm sure you won't want to miss next Thursday's Suspense Show, which Mr. Spear tells me will present the premiere of Lucille Fletcher's very newest suspense play. It is called The Furnished Floor, and in it you will hear Mildred Natwick and Don DeFore. Agnes Morehead appeared through the courtesy of Metro-Goldenmayer Studios and is one of the stars in their forthcoming production. Our vines have tender grapes. Next Thursday, you will hear Mildred Natwick and Don DeFore as stars of Suspense, radio's outstanding theater thrill. Resented by Roma Wines, R-O-M-A, made in California for enjoyment throughout the world. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.