 My name's Regan. I work for Anthony J. Lyon Detective Bureau. They call me the lion's eye Jeff Regan investigators starring Frank Graham as Regan with Frank Nelson as Anthony J. Lyon So stand by for mystery and suspense and adventure in tonight's story of the barefoot boy with shoes gone There were three women in it three guys and seven cats It figured for an easy trace job. All I had to do was find a missing guy named Thaddeus mink a painter Only before it was over a couple of people turned up dead And what made me think maybe I was training a killer with a screw loose was what happened to those seven cats The thing teed off for me when a letter came to the lion detective bureau in the morning mail My boss the lion opened it. You could see the dollar signs in his eyes Hey, Jeffrey Well, we're looking at rich uncle of yours finally kick off. What do you mean? You look so happy. Oh, it's not that Jeffrey listen to this The Ezra Park Duffield Art Gallery's Pasadena from the sanctum of EP Duffield already. I don't like it now now now now Jeffrey mr. Duffield encloses his personal check for $50 for which we do what? Yes, well now, let me see No, we find a missing person Jeffrey a man by the name of mink Thaddeus mink a painter It mr. Duffield says we'll be doing an an Inestimable service to the world of our duffield say why he doesn't go to the cops Well, he does mention that he has personal reasons for maintaining secrecy. They all say you worry mean by that Listen line the LA police look for missing persons free guy doesn't want the free services got a reason And he wants a finger man. Maybe it's a stakeout Jeffrey. Do you think that if I thought sure I do you don't mean I mean it only count me out. I don't risk my private op license for 50 bucks See you now wait a minute. Mr. Duffield says in his letter. He's coming here to the office himself this morning Well, you see him fat so I got a short thirst Jeffrey I'll be in Duggan's place on Hill Street if anything good turns up You mean you won't take the case you take it. All right Jeffrey. I will Now that ought to be duffield now. I'll let him in and me out How do you do are you mr. Lion? I'm Regan That's lion behind the desk. I see I'm EP. Duffield. Yeah Come in. Thank you, mr. Regan Mr. He'll come in come in. Shall I sit here mr. Yes Well run along Jeffrey. I'm taking this case remember you're waiting in Duggan's place on Hill Street until something good turns out Yeah, that's right See you I Went to Duggan's or sat looking into it What I kept seeing was EP. Duffield red hair gray green eyes tall About 511 but not too much of her just enough any place you look I Looked up at I was still seeing EP. Duffield That's because she was there Mind if I sit down mr. Regan bars public Thank what a lady have nothing thank you Lion didn't take your case. Well. He said you were the operative so Mr.. Regan, I have an art gallery Ezra Park Duffield gallery's Pasadena. He was my father. I'm Esther Patricia Duffield you wrote a letter said you wanted somebody to find a missing person Painter named Thaddeus mink. That's right. He didn't go to the cops. Why? Cops trace missing persons free. Well, but you see mr. Regan. I couldn't they wouldn't help me give me more I've never seen Thaddeus mink. I don't know what he looks like keep on. It's true You see he's a painter. He sent me a number of paintings by express, but I haven't been able to locate him. I've tried but Mr.. Regan if you'd come to the gallery and see his pictures. I think you'd understand Will you come you put up a 50-buck retainer lady? You want me to look at pictures for 50 bucks? I look In here Jeff with you lady the mink paintings are here in my office There they are Cats yes cats and look how he paints them how evil he makes them. Yeah, I see what you mean cat phobia Jeff Sometimes an artist becomes great through passionate love and Sometimes through passionate hate and mink hates cats that it's made him a great painter That why you want me to find them. I have just these few canvases. I want more. They'll be worth thousands of dollars You paint those circus pictures, too No, no, I did you a few years ago. I traveled with the circus, but my paintings are much good Mink ever painted anything except cats one picture it here I have all his pictures, but you've never seen him. I told her we sent them express I tried to trace him, but I couldn't find him all I have are the paintings These are the cats and the one other all signed the same way not with his name But with the print of a cat's paw painted in one corner. Where's the other one over here? I Keep it draped It heightens me Look a Woman you see Jeff he's painted her back as she stands at the mirror fixing her hair The back of an ordinary woman, but in the mirror her face the eyes Her the cat and the way her fingers curl and hook into her hair Like cats claws Well, maybe she's something we can go on. What do you mean? Well, maybe somebody else has painted it, too Maybe she's registered as a model we find her maybe we get a line on mink might work I Found her photo in an agency Mrs. Margaret Ames lived in Hollywood. I drove out there Only when I got there I rang the doorbell. I got a big surprise Sergeant bowls of the Hollywood division LA police opened the door What do you want came to see Mrs. Margaret Ames? Yeah, it figured see a client of yours You do a lousy job Regan a lousy job nor be a law against you private guys always getting people killed She got strangled Regan It killed her mind if I look come on Thanks like I say The deceased the client of yours. Nope. You know her Nope, a lot of good. You're gonna give us There she is Sort of surprised look on her face. Maybe she hadn't planned to get strangled this morning. Oh could be Neighbor lady found herself she come in to borrow coffee. That's what she found Scared the hairpiece off of her. She said Mrs. Ames live alone divorce lives alone. We got nothing Regan nothing And so the police haven't aligned at all on who might have killed Margaret Ames Jeffrey. No, no Here, let me check the late edition. Hmm. No. Yes. Yes. Yeah, here you are my boy You think they may have turned up something by now, huh? Now sergeant balls wouldn't have formed me if they had You know, no, I suppose not Jeffrey Isn't interesting item in the second section of the paper It says that in a place called mountain crest on the mountains near los angeles Somebody's been putting out poison meat But here's the strange thing the pieces of meat have been tied up in trees Yes, and several cats have been poisoned. Hey, wait a second Poison meat up in trees that could be it. It could be what jeffrey Maybe the poisoner ties the meat and trees so dogs won't get it only cats Why lion? Well, I don't know jeffrey. Maybe because he hates cats Jeffrey you mean that that cat painter mr. Maintain worth a try Mountain crest you said yes, we'll keep in touch with the margher name's murder lion. I'm going to mountain crest It was only a couple of hour drive, but I got started late and it was dark when I got there Cold up there snow above the 4,000 foot level Mountain crest was a half a dozen houses abandoned lumber mill and mountain crest haven A rundown auto court with a gas pump and cafe I pulled in and stopped at the gas pump Sorry to keep you waiting, but we didn't expect no customer up here a mean night like this. You run this place. Oh gosh. No, I work here I'm jimmy everybody around here knows me That is everybody there is around here Some gas mr. What it'll hold. Hey, you ought to go inside and warm up. I have a cup of coffee while I fill her up Yeah, it's a good idea Bunny'll serve you bunny as you come up here a couple of weeks ago. She's the waitress. Ah your girlfriend, huh? No No, she ain't I went inside Maybe I saw why jimmy's face clouded up when I asked him if bunny was his girlfriend Bunny was behind the counter ordinary pretty kid corn yellow hair about maybe 19 But on a counter stool talking to her was a slick-looking guy 25 thin-faced pinstripe suit I walked over slow Well, I buddy, I buddy listen, you can't talk to me like that art jones. Oh, no, you think you want something Yeah, I could use coffee bunny. How do you know my name jimmy tommy? Uh, I'll see you later bunny Bill collector him That's art jones. He's in one of the cabins. You like the cold weather. He doesn't know what he likes Cream a black mister a black He didn't look like your type bunny. He takes me places Dancing out of anaheim. Sure Here's your coffee Anything else? No, no, no Why don't you go with jimmy? He hasn't got a car Yeah, but the next time I will I don't know where art gets off just because mr. Mink gave me a Mink Yes He gave me a painting. He's a painter But that's no reason for art to get sore why mr. Mink is old. He must be 35 Yeah He live around here mink In a cabin up on lime peak fire for me a couple of miles You live alone. Mm-hmm He's he's sort of funny. I think he's scared of people But I guess he likes me You know him mr. By reputation. He's a very sweet man. What I hear Give you a painting of a cat, huh? Yes, he did cat's paw painted in the corner Yes It was a picture of a dead cat a dead cat Read in the paper some cats got poisoned around here lately around mountain crest Seven of them a curdy of mink might have done it. Oh, no He loves cats. He loves them. Now what I heard I heard he hates him I phoned the lion and told him when I had he had something for me Cops had traced the strangled woman mink had painted Mrs. Margaret Aime's maiden name was Margaret mink. She had a brother someplace cops said His name was Thaddeus Next call I made was to Pasadena Speaking hello Esther Jeff Regan Located your painter baby Thaddeus mink. Yeah, no cabin up here in the mountains. I'm near there now Where are you place called mountain crest minks cabins up a couple of miles from here? Well, that's fine Jeff Jeff I want to see him first myself. He's very queer and temperamental. I'm sorry, baby I'm I've got to go up there first thing in the morning Minks may be mixed up on a murder I rented one of the cabins at mountain crest Haven Got in bed and read some Edgar Allen Poe to quiet my nerves About six the next morning the wind dropped wind had brushed everything white still smooth I started from minks cabin on line peak about eight Bunny went with me There it is Smoked through the pines. That's from his cabin. We're almost there. Hey, hold it. What Jeff footprints In the snow Coming from that way From the highway There's a shortcut that way to the road where it goes over the summit Man's footprints must have been made this morning since the wind dropped or they'd have been covered over Oh, come on Wait a minute. What is it over there same footprints going back toward the highway Running steps are longer and the snow is kicked between them. Yes. Come on. Maybe something's happened We ran to the cabin it stood in the pines in front of a shelf of rock The footprints led to the door then running away from the door again and toward the highway There weren't any other tracks the cabin door stuck for it was unlocked. It always sticks There Mr. Mink Mr. Mink come on It wasn't mink It was a thin-faced slick looker in a pinstripe suit And it is stocking feet Art jones strangled Five foot eleven of beautiful red-headed dame e p duffield duffield art gallery's pasadena Hired me to find a missing cat painter name of mink First track I got led to his sister But that was a dead end Somebody'd strangled her Then I went up in the mountains somebody'd poisoned seven cats at a place called mountain crest Maybe mink You know mink lived up there only when I got to his cabin and there was a corpse on the floor Art jones bunny's pal in the pinstripe suit Strangled no shoes on I searched the cabin not a shoe in the joint Half an hour later bunny and I got back down a mountain crest haven The combination gas station autocourt where she worked as a waitress Oh, this is better I'd better get you some hot coffee. You're not used to the car after I phone the sheriff Where's the nearest place? I got one meridian township. Yeah, I'll be back for the coffee. Jeff. Yeah Jeff Mr. Mink couldn't have killed art Funny Art jones went up to mink's cabin this morning You and art were quarreling about mink last night Art was jealous art was crazy to think that mr. Mink maybe But he went up there He saw his footprints going in through the snow The ones who came back out were made by the same shoes. I checked that But art jones didn't make him no No, I know the killer took jones's shoes after he strangled him and wore them when he left So he wouldn't make tracks with his own shoes Mr. Mink didn't do that and there weren't any other tracks bunny One pair of footsteps in One pair of footsteps out Jones in to see mink tell him to lay off seeing you probably Who out? I'll get you some hot coffee. Sorry kid So that was it case just about wrapped up mink must have strangled jones Jones was strangled just like mink's sister If there weren't any other tracks in the snow, it didn't make sense anybody else had been there I phoned the sheriff at meridian township took five or six minutes to get him on the phone His name was lyell Sheriff Jesper lyell, what can I do for you? My name's Regan private investigator from Los angles. Huh? You better put out a description on a Thaddeus mink sheriff. I can give details short about 35 years. That's out already Huh? Out already mink wanted per question and homicide and a Connection street Wrangulation of his sister market mink games. Oh, yeah Yeah, that's right on the wires at four yesterday Don't think you did it though. Don't seem to kind Sitting right here beside me in the office. Give me that again. You got mink there in your office Yeah, we ain't got yourselves, bub ain't big time, you know like you folks down there. Yeah. Yeah. Sheriff Tell me one thing When did you pick mink up? He'd picked mink up four hours after the wanted was sent out by la eight o'clock last night Mink was in the meridian general store buying cat food Yeah, and he told the sheriff a sad story. He loved cats loved them had four But they'd come down with something suffered mink had had to put them out of their misery When he found out they'd passed the disease around mountain crest He put poison up in the trees to save the cats of the town the misery his cats had suffered He'd bought a new cat though So I was buying cat food So that made everything fine case all wrapped up Yeah Like a hot rod around a telephone pole Sugar Jeff Jeff oh Oh, yeah, thanks here. Thanks Anyway, I'm glad it wasn't mr. Mink. Yeah, mink didn't strangle jones. Couldn't have sheriff adam. Well, I'm glad Jones went up to the cabin to see mink saw her about mink giving you the painting that part still holds Made tracks in the snow Didn't walk back out Got strangled But his shoes walked out Somebody in him you think money not mink not jones Somebody with a motive to kill jones You didn't like him Art jones went with him because he took your places only maybe you didn't feel good about it He wasn't your type I guess he wasn't he wasn't and then he began to crowd you mink business for instance You figured he didn't have any right about him your life. Well, that's true. But what about jimmy jimmy? Yeah, the kid that works around here more your style. You seem like a nice kid He is only art jones got in between you What are you thinking? I'll tell you what i'm thinking I'm thinking somebody must have been in mink's cabin when jones got there this morning Somebody had gone in before the wind dropped so the tracks covered over Somebody that would have killed jones And you think sleeping one of the cottages here at the outcourt. Yes sleepwalk. Maybe Jeff I don't like you. Listen, baby The sheriff will be getting up to mink cabin in the next 10 minutes on my say so Half an hour later this joint here is going to be jumping only not with customers with cops deputies asking questions Now let's get ahead of him. Well, I didn't kill art if that's what you want to know I know you didn't Now you couldn't have you couldn't have done the job strangled him Strangling is not a girl-sized job Well, then why did you ask me all those questions to get answers, baby about you and our jones and jimmy Only two people had a motive to kill jones you and jimmy Look on her face said she was scared that that might be it jimmy liked her didn't like jones I started to look for jimmy when he was doing when I found him didn't help he was stealing my car Hey, hey get out of the car jimmy jimmy get out of that car Won't get away Come here. Come on All right, this will hold you What are you trying to do come here? How do I go? I got an armlock on him all of a sudden he quit fear. It worked two ways on him made him fight made him quit You better talk jimmy like fast, huh? Wait till I shut off the motor People go inside out of the cold and then I want answers Well, I saw on the seat of my car when I reached in to shut off the motor stopped me A pair of shoes Art jones shoes still wet from being in the snow I took jimmy into the cafe sat him on a stool bunny came in jimmy Jimmy, what did you do? I didn't do anything you tried to steal my car He stole the keys out of my cottage. You got the way if the motor hadn't been cold jimmy jimmy Why'd you want to steal my car because I I had to get away because you killed our jones. No, I didn't kill him. I I Go on kid get it out I I had to get away I had to keep out of it bunny You think a lot of bunny jimmy well, I Yes, I do you didn't like jones No, I didn't where'd you get his shoes I found him in the snow by the highway. Look the sheriff. We want a better story than that. You'd better practice up on me Well, I I got up early sleep here someplace. I've got a room in the kitchen go on I went up the highway a ways. I was trying to think Well because of art jones and bunny I didn't think I had any chance with her I guess But then I saw the shoes in the snow by the highway I brought him back anybody see you're coming or going why Yes, yes, yes, well, they were scraping the road. There's where I found the shoes I Checked jimmy's story and it was okay. He had a snow plow crew of witnesses So that made it great Two people had a motive to murder jones jimmy and bunny bunny couldn't have strangled jones and jimmy didn't Well, if nobody with a motive to murder jones had murdered him Then it had to be this way Somebody without a motive to murder him had I walked back up to the cabin where jones was strangled Sheriff lyle and his deputies had been and gone. They'd made tracks in the snow But then I saw some tracks they hadn't made They were the paw marks of fattyus minks new cat I asked myself where I had seen cat's paw marks before That gave me the answer I went back down the mountain crest haven and made a phone call I got the right answer That left me just one place to go It took a while to get there Painting all just touching up this still life Then better lady if you just stayed e p duffield art dealer You mean because I paint so badly it's part of it You're more the outdoor type tall strong I suppose that's uh Those circus paintings over there you painted she showed me yesterday. Yes You were in the circus strong enough for that jeff. Just what are you trying to get at not trying? I've got I phoned the model agency for mountain crest a little while ago Model agency where I got the track on margaret aims mink mink sister that got strangled You'd gotten her address a couple of hours before she was murdered. That doesn't mean anything. You wanted to be a great painter Yeah, but honey, you didn't have the stuff What happens? Thaddeus mink sends you his paintings. He is a great painter. Go on jet. Sure Mink didn't sign his name to his paintings painted on a cat's paw print instead So mink was a shy guy He found out nobody knew him nobody knew he'd painted the great paintings of his you had except his sister She'd posed for one You killed her And jet and that left mink Him dead you'd be the genius that painted the pictures. Yes Well, he is dead jeff and I am you went up to mink's cabin after I talked to you on the phone last night Nobody home, but you waited Guy came in early this morning. You strangled him wore his shoes to walk out. I said minks did Minks not dead You've never seen mink and you strangled the wrong guy A guy named jones jones Not smith Jeff i'm not a fool. You're lying to save your skin my skin your skin Hasn't it occurred to you that there's somebody else who knows who painted the cat pictures? Hey You mean reagan That was in it from the first jet Jeff bursting in like this into my office Perhaps trying to make love to me. You shouldn't have done it. Not when I happen to be armed put that gun down. Oh, no Now stay still no ester. You should stick to strangling. It's more accurate Next day I gave the land a little lecture on art You seem to have become quite an authority on art, but I'm afraid I'm a little more interested in art jones Oh, great. You went back up to mountain crest. I suppose yep That nice young boy jimmy how are he and that girl bunny? Say jeffrey Why did he try to steal your car and run away? Well only he and bunny had a motive to kill jones Jimmy found the shoes then overheard my call to the sheriff lile He knew he hadn't killed jones So you mean he suspected well, he was scared all he could think was to get those shoes far away He knew there was strong evidence E p duffy would toss them out of her car, but he didn't know that he thought that bunny Oh, I can't believe that he was in love that mixes you up Yes Yes, it does only bunny hadn't done it jimmy hadn't either If the two people who had reason to kill jones hadn't killed him it added that jones was killed by mistake Yes, I see that in minks cabin So it made sense the killer meant to kill mink only he didn't know what mink looked like Only one person fitted that E p duffield. Why that's brilliant my boy brilliant Yeah, but what about 30 years mink mink? Oh sheriff lile released him And when he found out how much dough his paintings are gonna bring him. He turned philanthropist. He did Yeah, gave us a present in there right outside the door. Oh jeffrey Here may be one of these valuable paintings worth thousands of dollars Yeah, yeah, it could be could be worth that much big enough box You open it. Oh, yes. Yes. Oh jeffrey jeffrey. Do you think? Oh jeffrey Jeff reagan investigator is written by william frugand william feifeel produced and directed by sterling tracy and stars Frank graham as reagan with frank nelson as anthony j li and original music by dick around Jeff reagan investigator will be back next week at the same time