A TIME TO KILL and A MOTIVE FOR MURDER BARRIE CRAIG, CONFIDENTIAL INVESTIGATOR

Summary

1001 Radio Crime Solvers: "A Time to Kill" & "A Motive for Murder"

Podcast: 1001 Radio Crime Solvers
Host: Jon Hagadorn
Featured Series: Barry Craig, Confidential Investigator
Episode Date: May 8, 2026

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Overview

This double-length episode of 1001 Radio Crime Solvers features two classic radio mysteries from "Barry Craig, Confidential Investigator":

• "A Time to Kill": Barry Craig is pulled into the orbit of a mysterious young woman, a shadowy pursuer, and a tangled web of lies involving a supposed heiress on the run.
• "A Motive for Murder": Craig is hired to protect a $40 million heir returning from Portugal, only to have his client murdered and the true motives for the crime slowly unravel.

Both stories showcase the quintessential hard-boiled wit, romantic misadventures, and cunning detective skills of Barry Craig—brought to life in the golden age of radio.

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"A Time to Kill": Main Discussion Points

Introduction and Setup

• (02:45) Barry Craig breaks the fourth wall, debunking the myth of the perpetually romantic detective, while introducing his latest escapade.
• Craig finds a mysterious and flirtatious woman, Cerise Foley, hiding in his car, claiming to be chased (“the dragon”) by a persistent man.

The Chase and Crash

• (06:39) Craig is pursued by Cerise’s stalker, leading to a high-speed chase culminating in a dramatic car crash—notably, the dragon’s car “telescoped like an accordion” (08:13).
• Barry takes the injured pursuer, Reuben Clark, to the hospital.

“Getting the unconscious dragon out of the wreck was like breaking into a sardine can with your fingernails.” —Barry Craig (08:56)

Cerise’s Story: Heiress in Danger?

• (12:01–13:07) Cerise claims she’s been mistreated by her guardian, who wants to marry her for her inheritance, threatening to have her committed if she resists.
• Barry decides to hide Cerise in a friend’s country cabin for her protection.

“You’re in the land of the free. We pay judges to step on a worm.” —Barry Craig (12:28)

Things Don't Add Up

• (14:17) A visit to Barry’s office turns threatening; two toughs show up, demanding to know Cerise’s whereabouts. Barry bluffs and banters, but is knocked out.

“You can’t throw guys out of windows.” —Barry Craig (15:29)

Deeper Lies and a Twist

• (20:35–22:20) Barry finds Cerise lied about her guardian’s location. She eventually admits to possessing a fortune in jewels.
• Reuben Clark, the “dragon,” reveals Cerise acts erratically and introduced herself as a princess selling jewels for a broke maharaja.

“She told me she was princess something or other, traveling incognito.” —Reuben Clark, the dragon (23:57)

The Truth Unmasked

• Cerise admits: she was never an heiress—just a mistreated maid who stole the jewels out of revenge. Barry realizes he’s now an accessory after the fact.

“I’m handcuffing you and tying you up so you stay put in my absence.” —Barry Craig (25:28)

The Shattering Finale

• (27:12–29:06) In a denouement at a sanitarium, a psychiatrist reveals Cerise is a long-term mental patient and the stories about her guardian and fortune are fantasies.
• At the end, Cerise no longer recognizes Craig at all, leaving him to quietly grieve and move on.

“She does not know you. That is another symptom in her hallucinations... She forgets the escapade and her companion in it totally.” —Dr. Kempner (29:06)

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"A Motive for Murder": Main Discussion Points

High-Stakes Assignment

• (33:26–36:00) Craig is hired by Ms. Briggs, secretary to attorney Talbot. The job: protect Floyd Spencer, Jr., $40 million heir arriving from Portugal, after suspicious “accidents.”
• The cast includes Talbot, a loyal secretary, and Paul Shandor, Floyd Jr’s traveling companion.

Deadly Welcome Home

• (38:09–39:22) At Tanglewild Airport, a sniper attempts to kill Floyd Jr. amidst thick fog. He is wounded but survives due to the fog.

“Hit the dirt, everybody, and stay down. Who was it got hit?” —Barry Craig (39:20)

Ramping Up the Investigation

• Barry employs Joe Potato, photographer, to take pictures of those involved. A developed photo from the scene may reveal the assassin.

“You got it developed? … Now here’s the picture. Now give me what you promised me.” —Joe Potato (41:47)

Motives and Suspects

• (44:26–47:31) Craig quizzes Floyd Jr. There have been two prior murder attempts—tampered polo gear and poisoning. The sole heir after Floyd Jr. would be Uncle Stanley.

“The estate. Who gets it?” —Barry Craig
“Oh, well, my Uncle Stanley, I suppose. He’s the closest relative I have.” —Floyd Spencer Jr. (44:31)

The Detour Trap and Death

• (45:49–47:31) Craig and Floyd Jr. drive into a fake detour and crash on a mountain road. Floyd Jr. is found dead—not from the crash, but a gunshot wound.

The Mysterious "Fez"

• (48:35) A mysterious, Asian-appearing man in a fez, Marcel Sorak, appears. Claiming to be a confidential investigator from Egypt and Portugal, he accuses Craig of murder and tries to arrest him.

“Jiu Jitsu. I am the finest exponent of Jiu Jitsu in the world.” —Marcel Sorak (50:31)

Unraveling the Conspiracy

• (53:30–56:36) Back at the Spencer estate, Uncle Stanley is indifferent to his nephew’s death. Talbot is evasive under questioning. The fortune’s key component is “neochromite”—industrial gold. The murderer stands to profit from volatility in the market.

“The stakes are beyond imagination.” —Talbot (55:38)

• Craig tricks Talbot by claiming the killer, Wally Mavis, survived and named Talbot as the one who hired him. Talbot breaks down and confesses.

“You’d be an Academy Award vet in pictures if you weren’t going to the electric chair.” —Barry Craig (56:59)

Final Twist: The Real Heir

• (58:39–60:16) The dead man wasn’t Floyd Jr.—it was Paul Shandor, who swapped identities with Floyd to protect the real heir. Floyd Jr. kept his bargain to "lose his fortune if his friend lost his life," pledging to do good with his inheritance.

“If he lost his life, I would lose my fortune.” —Floyd Spencer Jr. (59:54)
“And, brother, does this sad old world need befriending.” —Barry Craig (60:18)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “A gun in hand is worth two in the bush.” —Barry Craig (02:07)
• “You kiss like you took a graduate course.” —Barry Craig, to Cerise (11:12)
• “Six kids. Seven during this breather.” —Barry Craig (13:19)
• “You must forget her. You were her good friend for a day. And now it is another day.” —Dr. Kempner (29:25)
• “This grade of cabbage, Ms. Briggs, always excites the very best in me.” —Barry Craig (37:24)
• “Let’s have another go at it. ... This time I will shoot you.” —Marcel Sorak (50:37)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:45 – Craig meets Cerise Foley in his car
• 06:39 – The chase and dragon’s crash
• 12:01 – Cerise explains her plight
• 14:17 – Shady visitors to Craig’s office
• 20:23 – Cerise’s lies exposed
• 23:01 – The dragon’s perspective
• 25:00 – Cerise confesses to theft
• 27:12–29:06 – The sanitarium truth; Cerise’s real story
• 33:26 – Motive for Murder: Craig’s assignment
• 39:20 – Assassination attempt at the airport
• 45:49 – Deadly detour and crash
• 48:35 – The Fez man confrontation
• 53:30 – Craig confronts Uncle Stanley and Talbot
• 58:39 – The real heir revealed

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Tone and Style

• Wry, cynical banter between both allies and adversaries
• Eloquent blend of hard-boiled detective tropes with psychological depth
• Surprising, sometimes bittersweet, plot twists—especially regarding romance and friendship

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For New Listeners

This episode delivers two intricate, twisty mystery plots brimming with clever dialogue, unreliable narrators, and a healthy dose of emotional depth. Whether encountering manipulative femmes fatales, hired guns, eccentric millionaires, or grave robbers, Barry Craig's blend of humor, skepticism, and heart stands out, reminding us why the golden age of radio is beloved to this day.

Transcript

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[John Hagedorn]

That's betterhelp.com welcome back everyone to 1001 Radio Crime Solvers. This is your host, John Hagedorn. Get ready for Barry Craig, Confidential Investigator.

[Narrator]

William Gargan stars as Barry Craig, Confidential investigator.

[Barry Craig]

To ensure a longer life, folks, a gun in hand is worth two in the bush.

[Narrator]

The National Broadcasting Company presents William Gargan in another transcribed drama of mystery and adventure with America's number one detective Barry Craig. Confidential investigator.

[Barry Craig]

Barry Craig speaking. There's a popular notion people have about confidential operatives. Stop any guy in the street and ask him the notion Steam heated love, or as the French say, amour. My classification of workers always got a blond on one arm, another blonde on his lap, and a third blonde in his eye. So people think. The truth, as a matter of fact, is people are so right. Textbook biology aside, the true reason for our howling success with the ladies is our fatherly appeal. It's women looking for the Male protection they missed since the carefree days of the cradle. It's the unladylike search for the strong, dominating male who knows all the answers. It's also the classic feminine urge to pin horns on the masculine cranium. I won my horns by parking overtime outside Grand Central Station. I'd gone in to see if the mayor was making good on his promise to keep the trains running on time. I came out to find a summons tied to my windshield wiper. A green ticket, the $15 variety. Ouch. In my car, I found something more had been added to liven up my humdrum existence. A kewpie doll painted a rainbow pink with saucer eyes and blowing so many scents over me, I got an immediate. Perfume. Jagged. Isn't there some mistake?

[Cerise Foley]

No.

[Barry Craig]

You didn't mistake this for public hat?

[Cerise Foley]

No.

[Barry Craig]

Then I'm in the wrong car.

[Cerise Foley]

Are you?

[Barry Craig]

I'll check. Well, keys fit the ignition. The car belongs to me.

[Cerise Foley]

Oh, how wonderful.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

But you don't.

[Cerise Foley]

How sad.

[Barry Craig]

Funny, funny. I always wonder just how the future Mrs. Barry Craig would happen along run into me turning a corner or come

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

to me with a letter of introduction

[Barry Craig]

from my Uncle Hess in Allentown.

[Cerise Foley]

You're disappointed it's like this.

[Barry Craig]

I'm frightened.

[Cerise Foley]

Frightened?

[Barry Craig]

My blood pressure. 10 more points and I'm flying with the angels.

[Cerise Foley]

Oh, then you like me.

[Barry Craig]

We'll get married and have six kids.

[Cerise Foley]

Seven.

[Barry Craig]

Seven's a lot of laundry.

[Cerise Foley]

We'll live in the country.

[Barry Craig]

I'm allergic to marigold.

[Cerise Foley]

A picture wall looking out on green fields.

[Barry Craig]

Comes August, I sneeze and my eyes get red.

[Cerise Foley]

We'll name the children Tommy.

[Barry Craig]

Not all six of them.

[Cerise Foley]

Seven.

[Barry Craig]

I did want one daughter. What will I call you when I'm hunting high and low for my cufflinks?

[Cerise Foley]

Cerise. And when I want help with the supper dishes?

[Barry Craig]

Barry. And when we toast marshmallows and reminisce

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

about how we first came to meet.

[Barry Craig]

What should I remember?

[Cerise Foley]

How I hid in your car to escape the dragon.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

The dragon?

[Cerise Foley]

A repulsive little man who follows me.

[Barry Craig]

Where did he follow you from last?

[Cerise Foley]

Connecticut.

[Barry Craig]

He was on the train from Connecticut to my car. Yes, I see. Where is Mr. Repulsive right now?

[Cerise Foley]

Behind us.

[Barry Craig]

Behind us?

[Cerise Foley]

In the gray coupe. He's waiting to follow us.

[Barry Craig]

When you pull away, I'll fix that.

[Cerise Foley]

Oh, no.

[Barry Craig]

I'm Samson. I break heads like matchsticks.

[Cerise Foley]

Please, no. No violence. Nothing to spoil the fun we're having. Oh, I feel so good. Oh, I haven't felt good for such a long time.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

So what do I Do just take

[Barry Craig]

me away with a chaperone on our tail.

[Cerise Foley]

You're capable and clever.

[Barry Craig]

I shake guys like salt out of a shaker.

[Cerise Foley]

I knew you were equal to the

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

dragon for every block he hangs on over 10. You can paint a zebra stripe on me.

[Barry Craig]

In no time. I had more zebra stripes than skin. The repulsive dragon hung on for 10 blocks, then 30 more, then through the Holland Tunnel way into Jersey. I hung up a new highway speed record. But the great coupe stayed in the money. Your dragon drives like he was born to the wheel.

[Cerise Foley]

But you're so much better all of

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

a sudden, baby, I'm not so sure.

[Barry Craig]

I got off the highway, snaked and down deserted side roads. I followed the moon across rocks and stumps of forest like my car was a Jeep.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

But the gray coupe hung on, hung

[Barry Craig]

on close enough to point up the risks in my undertaking. The dragon's spitting fire at us, baby.

[Cerise Foley]

He's shooting at your tires.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

You're wrong about the tires.

[Cerise Foley]

Oh, Barry, you've been hit.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

How are you gonna like me with

[Barry Craig]

a dimpled elbow in front of him like this?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

We're a nice lush target.

[Cerise Foley]

Oh, you're not stopping.

[Barry Craig]

I've run out of road. Dead end ahead.

[Cerise Foley]

We can't. Mary, look. He's crashed.

[Barry Craig]

Yeah, he has. That will teach him to shoot and drive at the same time.

[Cerise Foley]

He ran into a tree.

[Barry Craig]

Remind me to kiss the tree. Let's go offer our condolences. Wait. I almost forgot.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Got a dime handy?

[Cerise Foley]

A dime? Oh, yeah. Here. But why?

[Barry Craig]

I'm throwing it to Finnegan for luck. It was Finnegan who made the great coupe crash in the nick of time. Oh, you understand.

[Cerise Foley]

Yes. Finnegan's your good angel. Oh, I almost forgot too. Let me see. A quarter. I'm Throwing it to Mrs. Rumpelheimer, my good angel.

[Barry Craig]

You're growing on me, baby. No question about it. You're really growing on me. The great coupe was telescoped like an accordion. Getting the unconscious dragon out of the wreck was like breaking into a sardine can with your fingernails. And now kept applauding the show. This pocket dragon. Small hands and dainty feet and the emaciated look of a guy who went hungry Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

[Cerise Foley]

How badly hurt is he?

[Barry Craig]

He could be worse. He could be dead. Contusions. When he comes to, he's gonna hate that word.

[Cerise Foley]

Your elbow.

[Barry Craig]

Only a nick. That can wait. Buster here is really Emergency. I've got to get him to a hospital. If he keeps bleeding, the dragon will change to a zombie right in front of us. Contusions weren't half the medical jargon.

[Doctor Kempner]

The patient's in an oxygen tent, Mr. Craig.

[Barry Craig]

What's the diagnosis? Multiple injuries to the head. Conditional paralysis of the reflexes due to severe concussion. Oh, he'll recover? Pathologically, yes. What does that mean?

[Doctor Kempner]

As an aftermath of trauma, there may be psychiatric complications.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Meaning?

[Barry Craig]

A memory lapse, an amnesia. Rough? Or maybe not. Maybe it's a blessing. Maybe Buster has more he'd like to forget than remember. His name appears to be Reuben Clark. Yeah, that's the name on the label sewed inside his coat. But no other identification?

[Doctor Kempner]

Address? An earist of kin?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

No.

[Barry Craig]

As I've already said, I looked for a wallet. Oddly enough, he wasn't carrying one. The hospital will need more information for a police report. I've told you all I know. I was out driving with my girl and heard this crash behind me. The gray coupe out of control had folded against a tree. I played good Samaritan. That's all there is. He's in your hands now, doc. So give him the full treatment, huh? Get a perfume jag on and your brain takes to the hills. It happens to a Bachelor pushing 40. That weak moment when single bliss suddenly has the feeling of solitary confinement.

[Cerise Foley]

Oh, you were wonderful rescuing me.

[Barry Craig]

The Congressional Medal goes to that tree.

[Cerise Foley]

Do what you did for me in blind faith.

[Barry Craig]

All through history, men have gone blind and boneheaded over a kewpie doll. Mark Anthony, for instance. Baby, you kiss like you took a graduate course.

[Cerise Foley]

No man has ever risked himself for me before.

[Barry Craig]

The man in your past must have been 80 and over.

[Cerise Foley]

I've never before had a champion tie

[Barry Craig]

a blue ribbon around my neck and fit the dunce cap at a rakish angle.

[Cerise Foley]

The dunce cap?

[Barry Craig]

Blind freight. You said I could be promoting a horse. Laugh at myself?

[Joe Potato]

Oh, no.

[Barry Craig]

Then fill in a few reassuring facts.

[Cerise Foley]

Facts?

[Barry Craig]

The delirious dragon I palmed off in a hospital. Reuben Clark. Who is he?

[Cerise Foley]

I'm not sure.

[Barry Craig]

Who do you think he is?

[Cerise Foley]

I think a man in the hire of my guardian.

[Barry Craig]

And what's the problem with your guardian?

[Cerise Foley]

I. I don't think I want to talk about it.

[Barry Craig]

It's too late. Reluctance, baby. I've taken too big a bite of your life.

[Cerise Foley]

He's mistreated me, hurt me, kept me prisoner, confined me to my room, always under watch.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Why?

[Cerise Foley]

He wants to marry me. There was money, many, many valuable things left to both of us when my parents died.

[Barry Craig]

And guardian wants all of it through marriage to you. But why run? Why not stand up to him? Get To a lawyer. Go to the police.

[Cerise Foley]

I can't. He's clever, my guardian. Devilishly clever. And determined.

[Barry Craig]

You're in the land of the free. We pay judges to step on worm.

[Cerise Foley]

He threatened to have me put away if I oppose him, if I keep refusing to marry him.

[Barry Craig]

What do you mean put away?

[Cerise Foley]

In a sanitarium. He's bribed people, old servants, even old friends to swear that I'm mentally irresponsible.

[Barry Craig]

Nice guy, your guardian.

[Cerise Foley]

I have no way of fighting him fairly.

[Barry Craig]

You've got me.

[Cerise Foley]

Oh, thank you so much. But I. I don't want to fight him.

[Barry Craig]

Procrastination, baby.

[Cerise Foley]

I just want to hide and rest. Not think. Today and tomorrow, just. Just not think. I've been trapped in a nightmare. In a hideous nightmare.

[Barry Craig]

Sure. Sure you have. It's up to your ears. You want to breathe. Nothing to fret over. Just pass the time and have fun.

[Cerise Foley]

Like the fun we were having.

[Barry Craig]

Six kids. Seven during this breather. Where do you want to be?

[Cerise Foley]

Anywhere where only you can find me.

[Barry Craig]

Okay. I know a country shack owned by a friend of mine over at Scotch Plains. It won't be in use until May 1st and I know where the key is.

[Cerise Foley]

Oh, you're wonderful.

[Barry Craig]

You'll be the guest of a certain Lieutenant Trev Rogers. Only he won't know it. It's Roger's shack. I'll stock you up with groceries and look in now and then.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

I'll take you over to it.

[Barry Craig]

Just one more fact to file away. Who and where is your guardian?

[Cerise Foley]

I'd rather not at present.

[Barry Craig]

No, you can trust me. My word on it. I won't make a move until you agree to it.

[Cerise Foley]

My guardian is Jeffrey Foley. We live in Tuxedo Grove Heights, Connecticut.

[Barry Craig]

Back in my office I got my first real indication. That boy. Girl. Woohoo. Sometimes echoes back.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Ow.

[Barry Craig]

Wow. An uninvited caller. Male, 30, about a flashy dresser in a Pepman striped shirt, gray suede gloves and a nickel plated revolver.

[Joe Potato]

You bury Craig?

[Barry Craig]

No.

[Joe Potato]

What do you mean no? This is Craig's office?

[Barry Craig]

Was. I took over this morning. I'm a distant cousin.

[Joe Potato]

Then where's Craig?

[Barry Craig]

Passed away. Krug's?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Yeah.

[Barry Craig]

All of a sudden at 2am this morning.

[Joe Potato]

What are you giving me?

[Barry Craig]

The obituary into your pocket and throw

[Joe Potato]

your wallet on the desk. I want to check.

[Barry Craig]

It so happens I'm carrying Craig's wallet to turn it over to the estate.

[Joe Potato]

Where's your dame?

[Barry Craig]

Dame?

[Joe Potato]

You're asking for something, Craig.

[Barry Craig]

Your arm will get stiff pointing that gun.

[Joe Potato]

I got a Heat lamp.

[Barry Craig]

Home.

[Joe Potato]

Oh, you don't want to talk about the dame, huh?

[Barry Craig]

I've got a block against discussing women. I was a retarded adolescent. Want to talk about the track?

[Joe Potato]

The dame?

[Barry Craig]

Famous battles of history, then the dame. You're a hard man to please.

[Joe Potato]

Get over to the window.

[Barry Craig]

The window?

[Joe Potato]

Open it.

[Barry Craig]

You can't throw guys out of windows.

[Joe Potato]

Why not?

[Barry Craig]

The sanitation code.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Littering the sidewalk.

[Barry Craig]

You'll be sucked five bucks in magistrates court.

[Joe Potato]

Open the window, comedian. Now close it.

[Barry Craig]

Close it. This? What did that accomplish? Yes.

[Joe Potato]

Smart. Figure it out yourself.

[Barry Craig]

I just did. Who was I signaling?

[Joe Potato]

The big guy. He'll be up to talk to you later.

[Barry Craig]

Later?

[Joe Potato]

After I softened you up so you can talk politely to the big guy. He don't like wise, cracking comedians. Now lie down on the floor.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

What for?

[Joe Potato]

So I can get at your head standing up. I can't reach you.

[Barry Craig]

You are kind of short for a muscle man.

[Joe Potato]

Bending over the dice all the time. I was a kid. Grew down instead of up. So lie down, Craig. Nice, huh?

[Barry Craig]

You can close the safety catch on your gun. I'll lie down. Nice.

[Joe Potato]

Now tell me a funny story. While I work,

[Barry Craig]

I awoke in a farm, a cigar fogged, clouds of strong tobacco blowing in my face. I found a face behind the cigar after a while. A moon face with a contented smile like men's smile after dealing themselves a royal flush in spade. Hey, keep that stinkweed into my face and I'll be gassed to death. It's fine Cuban tobacco, but I'm no Cuban.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

Let's talk, Craig.

[Barry Craig]

Let's talk about the beating I survived.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

My deepest apologies. The dude is a continual embarrassment to me.

[Barry Craig]

The dude, huh?

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

I've tried to teach him moderation and restraint.

[Barry Craig]

Turn him over to my teaching for 10 minutes.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

All right, I will joke.

[Barry Craig]

I don't know where I fit into your game.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

I'll tell you. Automobile license number BC100 New York. Honorary plates issued to Barry Craig.

[Barry Craig]

So?

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

Your automobile. I saw a certain young lady get into it yesterday. It pulled away, unfortunately, before I could formulate strategy in pursuit. I lost the car in traffic. So this morning I identified you as the owner of the car. Where's the girl, Craig?

[Barry Craig]

I don't know. She thanked me for the lift and got off at Battery Place.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

I don't think so.

[Barry Craig]

You'll have to take my word on it.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

Temporarily, perhaps. I'm fairly resourceful at proving liars to be liars.

[Barry Craig]

The dudes. Armwary.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

Right now, I'm also a vindictive man. When lied to, My one great failing.

[Barry Craig]

Who hasn't got one flaw in his character?

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

You're a practical man, Craig.

[Barry Craig]

Is that a cash bribe developing?

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

Modest gesture of goodwill. $1,000.

[Barry Craig]

Keep your money in your pocket.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

You're not tempted, Only curious.

[Barry Craig]

What makes the girl worth a grand on the hook?

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

That doesn't concern you. It had better not concern you. You're a fool, Craig. Lochinvar riding for a fall.

[Barry Craig]

Who's Lochinvar?

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

You're championing a girl you know nothing about. Whatever she told you, Craig, you can be sure it's pure invention.

[Barry Craig]

I'm only sure you're after her and

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

you ring counterfeit, Craig, I warn you.

[Barry Craig]

And that stooge in a peppermint shirt you use for a calling card.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

You don't really think you can whistle me over to your side?

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

All right. Hide the girl. Play the hero and the idiot. There's a keg of dynamite under you, Craig. If only you could free your eyes of stardust.

[Barry Craig]

Keg of dynamite. The phrase kept repeating in my head until it gave me to Willie. How much of the truth had Kewpie told me? I began to wonder. Information. Will you get me the phone number of a Jeffrey Foley? Tuxedo Grove Heights, Connecticut. Later in the afternoon, I went calling on Love Lock and bars. Here, baby. With a sack full of groceries. Wax beans, salmon, fresh blueberries, vintage year bagels. Enough food to keep you hiding out for a month.

[Cerise Foley]

Here, I'll take your coat.

[Barry Craig]

Take my hat first, huh? The dunce cap.

[Cerise Foley]

Dunce cap.

[Barry Craig]

I hate myself in it. Take it off me, baby.

[Cerise Foley]

Barry, what's happened?

[Barry Craig]

I tried to telephone that wicked old guardian of yours.

[Cerise Foley]

You tried to?

[Barry Craig]

Jeffrey Foley of Tuxedo Grove Heights, Connecticut. There's no Tuxedo Grove Heights anywhere on

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

the map of Connecticut.

[Cerise Foley]

I. I lied.

[Barry Craig]

Tell me something I don't know.

[Cerise Foley]

But only about the address.

[Barry Craig]

What's the real address?

[Cerise Foley]

Cranberry Hills, Pennsylvania.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Why'd you lie about the address?

[Cerise Foley]

I. I wasn't sure I could trust you. Really trust you?

[Barry Craig]

Baby, come here.

[Cerise Foley]

I've confided people, only to have them use me extort money.

[Barry Craig]

Two guys dropped in on me today looking for you. They barely stopped short of murder.

[Cerise Foley]

Barry.

[Barry Craig]

I came out here by way of Planet X to shake them. You must be quite a prize to rape two homicidal retrievers like my morning callers.

[Cerise Foley]

$1 million, Barry. The estate my guardian is trying to steal, it's worth $1 million.

[Barry Craig]

A million dollars. I knew that love, when it came, would be nothing trivial. But I never dreamed it would Have a Dun and Bradstreet rating. A perfumed doll cries on your shoulder and reality drowns in a tub of tears. Cupy knew her way to my heart. Like there was a neon sign on my chest saying Enter. When love let go of my throat long enough. I took a half hearted whack at confidential investigating. I did some more sneak checking on Kewpie, the repulsive dragon. Reuben Clark. I wanted his version of events. Patient has shown Extraordinary improvement, Mr. Craig. Is he conscious, Doc?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Yes.

[Barry Craig]

I want to talk to him. I don't think. Don't think. The first story I told you, I thinned it down a little. The fact is this policeman. Uh huh. But don't pump me, Doc. I'm engaged in operation Top Secret. I can't give out facts until I've wrapped up the case. Of course. Which door do we go through? The dragon talked like a guy came kicking himself around the block.

[Joe Potato]

I first saw the girl on the train, Cerise Foley. I never knew her name.

[Barry Craig]

Oh, no.

[Joe Potato]

Look, let me tell it my own way.

[Barry Craig]

All right, tell it.

[Joe Potato]

Well, it was in the club car. She sat across the aisle from me looking peculiar.

[Barry Craig]

Looking peculiar?

[Joe Potato]

A little loony humming little ditties, then winking over to me, then laughing to herself.

[Barry Craig]

Are we talking about the same girl?

[Joe Potato]

Look, I'm talking about the chick you made me chase all over Jersey.

[Barry Craig]

Keep talking.

[Joe Potato]

Well, the way it was, I figured an easy pickup.

[Barry Craig]

You're trying awfully hard for a bust on the snoot.

[Joe Potato]

You asked me to tell you and I'm telling you.

[Barry Craig]

Okay, tell me.

[Joe Potato]

Well, I'm a guy like any other guy. Good looker, like this chick wants to be sociable, so I.

[Barry Craig]

Stop embroidering it, buster.

[Joe Potato]

What'd you do, marry her or something?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

You took the seat beside her. Then what?

[Joe Potato]

Well, we got to talking, getting acquainted. I told her how I was a hardware salesman fresh in from Binghamton.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

I don't want to know your pedigree.

[Joe Potato]

She told me she was princess something or other, traveling in cognitive. What word am I, Muffin?

[Barry Craig]

Incognito.

[Joe Potato]

Yeah, incognito. Well, her uncle was a maharaja somewhere and she was here on a secret mission for him to raise cash. She said the maharaja was stone broke.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

You're making this up.

[Joe Potato]

Well, I thought she was until I got a peek into that overnight bag she kept on her lap.

[Barry Craig]

What was in the bag?

[Joe Potato]

Jewels. The stuff the maharajah sent her here to sell off.

[Barry Craig]

Jewels, mister.

[Joe Potato]

Enough jewels to make you go clean off your rocket.

[Barry Craig]

Like you went?

[Joe Potato]

Yeah, like I went.

[Barry Craig]

Cupy confirmed the fact of the jewels?

[Cerise Foley]

Yes, Barry, I have jewels. Many, many jewels. Bracelets, brooches, rings. Right here in my overnight bag.

[Floyd Spencer Jr.]

See?

[Barry Craig]

They're real.

[Cerise Foley]

Well, yes, of course.

[Barry Craig]

Where did you get them? I asked, where did you get them?

[Cerise Foley]

You're hurting me.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

No phony stories about a guardian or a marauder. I want the truth.

[Cerise Foley]

I. I stole them.

[Barry Craig]

Who from? Jeffrey Foley of Cranberry Hills, Pennsylvania.

[Cerise Foley]

No. Oh, he really lives in Meadow Farms, New York. I worked for Mr. Foley as an upstairs girl.

[Barry Craig]

You of Foley's maid?

[Cerise Foley]

Yes. He was a brute. And Mrs. Foley, too. They mistreated me, humiliated me.

[Barry Craig]

So you made off with a fortune in jewels? Yes, baby. Put your hands out nice and straight.

[Cerise Foley]

Put my hands out?

[Barry Craig]

I'm handcuffing you and tying you up so you stay put in my absence.

[Cerise Foley]

Where are you going?

[Barry Craig]

Away from that sweet, sappy, daffy kisser of yours. So I can think of grand larceny, baby, with yours truly.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Accessory after the fact.

[Barry Craig]

I thought it over, stewed over it, and wound up telling it to Lieutenant Trav Rogers.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

So love finally came to Barry Craig.

[Barry Craig]

If you have to rub it in,

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

what brand of smokes do you want sent to the state pen?

[Barry Craig]

Give me an out.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

An out?

[Barry Craig]

Like a deal? Quietly arranged. This Foley gets his jewels back and he doesn't prosecute. Where's the girl?

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

In the swag.

[Barry Craig]

Now, when I tell you, don't blow a fuse.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

What's that supposed to mean?

[Barry Craig]

Your shack up in Scotch Plains where you cool off July and August.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

What about my shack?

[Barry Craig]

The girl's been hiding out there. She's there now. Craig.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

Of all the crust.

[Barry Craig]

I didn't think you'd mind.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

You didn't think I'd mind? A common thief and a moonstruck admirer and accomplice. I. Craig, you're under arrest. And so is your kewpie doll the minute I arrive in Scotch Plains.

[Barry Craig]

But it didn't end like that. As it turned out, after some nice police handling, I had a couple of new wallops. A couple of new surprises in store. The first surprise was handed me by a solemn fellow wearing a white coat and a white beard. A doctor. I'd been brought to a place called Hopewell Rest, a sanitarium by Trav rogers.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

This is Dr. Kempner, a psychiatrist. Doctor, tell it to Craig.

[Doctor Kempner]

Yes, Mr. Craig. I'm acquainted with all the details of your curious experience with Cerise Foley, the daughter of Mr. And Mrs. Jeffrey Foley.

[Barry Craig]

Daughter? Now, wait a minute, Dr. Craig, hear the doctor out. Okay.

[Doctor Kempner]

The story of the jewels and her position as a maid were a pure fabrication. Part of, shall I say, her newest hallucination.

[Barry Craig]

Newest hallucination?

[Doctor Kempner]

The young lady has been a mental patient under my care here for some time. She hallucinates many, many things. The jewels belong to her father. She merely appropriated them in this latest escapade.

[Barry Craig]

Two guys who worked over me. Who were they?

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

I'll answer that. They were private detectives hired by the father to recover the jewels and his daughter without publicity.

[Barry Craig]

They play rough for private detectives.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

Their promised fee was $25,000.

[Barry Craig]

The fee had them a little over eager. Cerise. She's here now? In this sanitarium?

[Doctor Kempner]

Yes. She is confined here.

[Barry Craig]

Can I see? Surprise number two added some gray hairs to the few I already had. I watched the doctor walk kewpie doll toward me. Hello, baby. The doc tells me you'll do okay and I'm rooting for you.

[Cerise Foley]

Who is this man, doctor?

[Barry Craig]

I watched her stare at me blankly stare through me, then walk away.

[Doctor Kempner]

You see, Mr. Craig, she looked right

[Barry Craig]

through me as if she didn't know me.

[Doctor Kempner]

She does not know you. That is another symptom in her hallucinations. An element of amnesia, shall we say. She forgets the escapade and her companion in it totally.

[Barry Craig]

You mean she'll never remember me? Never know me?

[Doctor Kempner]

I mean you must forget her. You were her good friend for a day. And now it is another day.

[Barry Craig]

You'll get over her, Craig. It'll hurt a while, but you'll get over her. Yeah, I'll get over it. That crack you made, Trev, what was it again? Oh, yeah. Love comes to Barry Craig. Good night, folks. See you next week.

[Narrator]

You have been listening to William Gargan in another exciting transcribed mystery drama from the adventures of Barry Craig, confidential investigator. Tonight's story, A Time to Kill, was written by John Robert. Next week, it's the strange story titled Motive for Murder, about which Barry Craig has this to say.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Next week, death flies the Atlantic from Lisbon to New York.

[Barry Craig]

A corpse breaks the bank for $40 million and yours truly almost sprouts wings. See you next week, folks.

[Narrator]

Featured in the role of Cerise was Arlene Blackburn. Barry Craig, starring William Goggin, was under the direction of Hyman Brown. This is Don Pardo speaking.

[Barry Craig]

Next, robert montgomery presents something different in news analysis on NBC.

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Switch upfront payment of 45 for 3 month plan equivalent to 15 per month required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full [e-mail] William Gargan stars as

[Narrator]

Barry Craig, Confidential Investigator.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

When the high cost of living gets your nanny, folks walk that last mile with a guy whose only gripe is the high cost of dying.

[Narrator]

The National Broadcasting Company presents William Gargan in another transcribed drama of mystery and adventure with America's number one detective, Barry Craig. Confidential investigator.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Barry Craig speaking over the hot stove winters while lubricating your tonsils with a hot toddy and wondering how long to spring. Freelance operatives pass the time exactly the way barbers, ball players and bookies pass the time. They talk shop. The toughest case you ever worked, the arch criminals you've met and the pat alibis you've ripped to shreds. Men will be kids and you pin

[Barry Craig]

a medal on yourself.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

The metal I always cop off comes when the bragging gets around to the most dough, the most looted stake in a case. My topper is a modest $40 million. I got the case in the back row of a 40 cent movie house over on 3rd Avenue. A Ms. Briggs came looking for me with a N usher behind her throwing a spotlight on me with his flash.

[Ms. Briggs]

Mr. Briggs?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

A tall lady in stiff corsets who look like somebody's loyal girl Friday Paging me, Mr. Craig. Sit down and enjoy a movie, Ms. Briggs.

[Ms. Briggs]

Ms. Briggs. I can't stay. Thank you. You are Mr. Craig?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Red Top, handsome though rugged. The outdoor look. Am I describing myself or flattering myself?

[Ms. Briggs]

You're describing yourself, yes.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Then I'm Barry Craig and that's for sure. Have some popcorn.

[Ms. Briggs]

I must talk to you, but please,

[Cerise Foley]

not here in the Lounge.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Gregory Peck will be awfully mad if I walk out on him.

[Ms. Briggs]

Please, Mr. Craig. People are staring.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

How did you corner me like this?

[Ms. Briggs]

Jake, your elevator man. He said you were always here in the back row taking your afternoon nap when you weren't busy.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Jake, huh? Snake in my bosom. Remind me not to confide in him so much.

[Barry Craig]

In the lounge.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Ms. Briggs dropped the case in my lap.

[Ms. Briggs]

This cablegram came to my office today.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

What's your office?

[Ms. Briggs]

Branch Talbot, Attorney at law. I'm Mr. Talbot's secretary.

[Barry Craig]

Old faithful, huh?

[Ms. Briggs]

I've been with Mr. Talbot for only nine years.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Oh, you're only breaking in. Ms. Briggs. Hire a confidential operative to meet Clipper arriving tonight. Tangle wild. Airport check time. Talbot. What's the Emergency?

[Ms. Briggs]

My employer, Mr. Talbot, is returning from abroad from Portugal with a client, Floyd

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Spencer Jr. You pointed that up like I ought to know the Name Floyd Spencer Jr. Let me think. Oh, the neochromite heir, golden boy who

[Ms. Briggs]

inherits an industrial Fortune estimated at $40 million. The late Floyd Spencer Sr. Was very rich.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

You're forcing me to agree. I'm vague on the background. I've got a block against dads. All I was left was a shaving mug and a secondhand toothbrush.

[Ms. Briggs]

The Floyd Spencer separated more than 15 years ago when the boy was six. Mrs. Spencer lived abroad in Portugal as a voluntary expatriate. The boy was reared and educated there.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

And now with Spencer Senior dead, she's coming home with sonny boy.

[Cerise Foley]

No.

[Ms. Briggs]

Mrs. Spencer died in Portugal some weeks ago. The boy is coming home. I mean the young man. My employer, Mr. Talbot, has been the Spencer family attorney for a very long time.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

The Spencer family's now dwindled down to Floyd Junior and an uncle.

[Ms. Briggs]

Uncle Stanley, the late Mr. Spencer's brother.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Why am I being hired?

[Ms. Briggs]

Well, Mr. Talbot is worried. There were two incidents in Portugal.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Clarify, please.

[Ms. Briggs]

Accidents involving Floyd Junior.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Accidents on purpose? Is that why Talbot's worried?

[Ms. Briggs]

I believe so, yes. The estate, the size of the fortune, and young Spencer's long estrangement from his deceased parent. The long exile, as it was, where there could be complications.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Homicidal complications, that is.

[Ms. Briggs]

I don't want to use the word recklessly.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Nice restraint, Ms. Briggs. My compliments. $40 million. That grade of cabbages doesn't always excite the best behavior in people.

[Ms. Briggs]

This check is your retainer.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

1500. This grade of cabbage, Ms. Briggs, always excites the very best in me. A fog lay over the Tanglewild airport like blotches of green and gray paint hanging midair. I Waited on the edge of the landing field, close as I could get without risking sudden decapitation. And then when the sky giant sat down to unload, I changed stations and got close to the passenger walk, looking to identify Talbot from a picture Ms. Briggs had equipped me with. Talbot simplified everything by identifying me.

[Paul Shandor]

Mr. Craig.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

On the job with a bright and shining face.

[Paul Shandor]

I can barely see it in this miserable fog.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Where's Spencer Jr.

[Paul Shandor]

He's right behind me. Floyd, meet Barry Craig.

[Barry Craig]

How do you do?

[Floyd Spencer Jr.]

This is Paul Shandor, Mr. Craig.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Paul Shandor. Where does he fit into the party?

[Paul Shandor]

Don't be an obvious detective, Craig.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Please stick your hand out. Talbot.

[Paul Shandor]

What for?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

1500. Your retainer. You're getting it back.

[Barry Craig]

But I don't want it back.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

If I'm responsible for the safety of Junior here, I want to know who's who in the party and why.

[Floyd Spencer Jr.]

Well, Paul Shandor is my traveling companion and friend, Mr. Craig.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

That answers my question. Now introduce me all over.

[Floyd Spencer Jr.]

Ah, Paul Shandor, Mr. Craig.

[Joe Potato]

I am happy to meet you, Mr. Craig.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

No offense intended, Paul. I was just being thorough.

[Joe Potato]

Oh, I understand, of course.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

You are Floyd's protector, and I worry about it. Golden boy here. Stacks as high as the national debt. We'll wait right here until everybody's off the field and gone. After that, we'll leave through a route I've mapped out.

[Paul Shandor]

Craig, are these precautions. Admirable as they are?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

It's why you hired me, Talbot, so let's not be impatient, huh? The first pot shot of $40 million commenced as we crossed the field toward a private door in the administration building. A gunner wearing the fog for a shroud. Hit the dirt, everybody, and stay down. Who was it got hit?

[Floyd Spencer Jr.]

I did, Mr. Craig.

[Joe Potato]

My leg.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Your $40 million leg? It's 20 yards to the door. Crawl toward it. Everybody crawl.

[Barry Craig]

Now.

[Paul Shandor]

Craig.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

I'm a charge tablet. It's crawl, infantry style. There's a killer out there making the fog work wonders for him. Stand up and you're a goner. In the administration building, Spencer Jr. Got his leg wound cleaned and cauterized. And a shot of penicillin to keep

[Barry Craig]

bacteria from getting ideas.

[Paul Shandor]

It's only a superficial flesh wound, the

[Barry Craig]

doctor says, like the fog for that.

[Paul Shandor]

The fog saved Floyd's life. Yes, but it also enabled the assassin's escape.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

If he's escaped.

[Paul Shandor]

If he. Well, I don't understand.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Walk with me. Talbot. I mapped out a route, they said a plan. Remember?

[Barry Craig]

Yes.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

An empty field, then through a private door. Just our party. Once in that door, two airport cops Were to fall in with us, stay with us until we climbed into a waiting limousine.

[Paul Shandor]

That's well enough conceived. If only the assassin hadn't chosen the field itself for an ambuscade.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

He wasn't always there. He got on the field after the clipper landed and emptied.

[Barry Craig]

Why? Don't follow.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Oh, in here. I had the big searchlights play over the field before we started across to the administration door.

[Paul Shandor]

Yes, yes, there were searchlights for a

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

moment, then two blinks stopped. One blink to signal me. Everything was okay. Before our party started across, our gunner sneaked onto the field through the same door we were heading toward.

[Paul Shandor]

But why through the same door?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Because he had to for timing and target range. Regular field gates measure 250 to 400 yards away.

[Paul Shandor]

Oh, and the fog would make such marksmanship improbable.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Make it impossible.

[Paul Shandor]

Your stress on that same door and on the time element, it obviously has significance.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

It does. It signifies Joe Potato.

[Barry Craig]

Joe?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Joe Potato over there on the bench. I brought him out with me. Joe takes pictures with an eye for goons, creeps and connivers. Oh, Joe, come here.

[Joe Potato]

Hey, Craig. I don't want to be waiting around long. It's drafty in here. No good for my rheumatism.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Meet a friend, Joe. Mr. Talbot. Joe Potato.

[Cerise Foley]

I've been telling you and telling you.

[Joe Potato]

Nick's on a nickname, Craig. It ain't doing me no good socially.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Oh, what other name have you got?

[Joe Potato]

Well, I like Joe the photographer. It's got advertising in it.

[Barry Craig]

Oh, clever, clever.

[Joe Potato]

So let me sell you the picture. Already in blow, huh?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

You got it developed?

[Joe Potato]

I told you the box I worked as automatic. It's got its own developer built in the back. Now, here's the picture. Now give me what you promised me.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Here you are. 20.

[Joe Potato]

I'm rooked in this deal. Freezing out here for hours for a lousy 20 I'll be spending on radio diathermy.

[Paul Shandor]

This. This picture, Craig. May I see it?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Sure.

[Paul Shandor]

You believe this fellow to be the assassin?

[Barry Craig]

Tell Talbot Joan only one guy went

[Joe Potato]

out that private door and that picture's him.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

Police headquarters, Trev Rogers speaking.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Oh, Barry Craig.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

You sound far away. It's Alaska, I hope.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Tangle Wild airport, Long Island. Sorry.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

There's a clipper leaving for Hindustan in an hour. Climb aboard it, Craig, with a one way ticket.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

There's a character in balloon pants leaving here for your office in three minutes. Joe the photographer.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

Joe Potato.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

He just changed his name.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

Why are you sending him to me?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

He's carrying a photograph. A face you see on post Office circulars. Check it with your Rogues gallery file.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

What's the rap?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Hunting out of season.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

The game warden's office is in Albany.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

When you've got something, try phoning me at the Floyd Spencer estate. Twin Oaks in Southampton.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

Don't wait at the telephone, Craig. You'll grow a long gray beard.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

So be a traitor to your police oath. What's one more killer on the loose?

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

Killer? Craig, I insist.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Goodbye now. When Spencer Jr dropped the anguished look from his royal kisser, I questioned him privately in my jalopy. Driving to the Spencer place with Talbot and Shandor gone on ahead. I wanted information. And I also wanted the bang of being all alone with 40 million bucks.

[Floyd Spencer Jr.]

I'm not sure I understand your questions, Mr. Craig.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Excuse my peasant English. You're a target for murder, sonny.

[Floyd Spencer Jr.]

Yes, I. I apparently am.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

There were two other attempts on you abroad. I want to know about them.

[Barry Craig]

Well?

[Floyd Spencer Jr.]

A fall from a horse during a polo match. The stirrup had suddenly torn free. There were evidences of a knife. The straps had been tampered with.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Attempt number two.

[Floyd Spencer Jr.]

After dinner one night, I became violently ill. A ptomaine attack. I was rushed to a hospital.

[Barry Craig]

Your food had been poisoned, I suppose?

[Floyd Spencer Jr.]

It was, yes.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Whom do you suspect?

[Floyd Spencer Jr.]

Nobody. If I have enemies, I don't know them.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Who profits by your death? Who profits? The estate. Who gets it?

[Floyd Spencer Jr.]

Oh, well, my Uncle Stanley, I suppose. He's the closest relative I have.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Is there any other information you think I should have?

[Floyd Spencer Jr.]

I don't want to attach importance to something possibly imaginative or a pure coincidence.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Let me interpret it. You tell it well.

[Floyd Spencer Jr.]

For weeks in Lisbon, in Cairo, and later again in Lisbon, I had the feeling I was being followed and watched. I turn unexpectedly and see a person somewhere in the background. Always the same person.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Describe this person.

[Floyd Spencer Jr.]

A bland face, like an Oriental's is bland. A man of dainty size, simply clothed and wearing a fez.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

A fez?

[Floyd Spencer Jr.]

Yes, a bright red fez.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Where did you see him last?

[Floyd Spencer Jr.]

I dislike saying this positively.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Then say it negatively. Only say it.

[Floyd Spencer Jr.]

I'm not sure, but that he wasn't on the clipper coming across. There was such a person. A face reminiscent of the man I've described. Only.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Only?

[Floyd Spencer Jr.]

Well, he wasn't wearing the fez.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Missing those ditches is like hedgehog. You see what I see? Up ahead?

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

A barrier across the road, a pole

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

between two wooden horses. Another lantern or flare to market.

[Floyd Spencer Jr.]

Oh, there's a sign tacked on it.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Can you make out what it says?

[Floyd Spencer Jr.]

Detour Road repairs ahead.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

The arrow points Left.

[Barry Craig]

Where to?

[Floyd Spencer Jr.]

Detour.

[Doctor Kempner]

Left?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Yeah. Hey, this is a road. Like a wagon trail. Hey, how high does this climb? When do we connect back with the main road?

[Floyd Spencer Jr.]

The visibility is worse. I suggest your bright lights.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

They're on for all the good they are. Hey, we're risking our necks, Mr. Craig.

[Doctor Kempner]

A dead end.

[Barry Craig]

Dead end?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

It's off the mountain you mean? Cross your fingers. I got a crash. I came out of the concussion worrying about a tooth on the lower gum pushed my tongue against it and it swung like an old time saloon door. Damages to the car look minor.

[Barry Craig]

Dented grill, the hood with folds like corrugated cardboard.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

I stood beside the car, breathing in deep, refueling my lungs before I remembered to worry about Spencer Jr. The kid lay unconscious on the front seat where he'd been riding beside me. Quiet with his eyes wide open like a guy stunned into a trance. Normal enough reaction to a car borrowing

[Barry Craig]

itself into a cliffside chafe.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

His wrists to get the blood circulating and he'd come to as good as new. Spencer Spencer. Only thing, Spencer Jr. Wasn't coming to.

[Barry Craig]

Ever.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

I was rubbing the wrists and patting the cheeks of a dead man. I determined the cause of death by tracing a trickle running down his cheek. Trickle of blood that bounced off his collar and soaked into his clothes. A head injury over the ear. But it hadn't come from the crash. The real cause of death had a touch of voodoo. Floyd Spencer Jr. Had been shot in the head. I tried starting the car without any luck. My jalopy would need towing. That is, if a tow car would dare up the old wagon road. I was standing around keeping a corpse

[Barry Craig]

company and wondering how to get both

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

of us back to civilization when the

[Barry Craig]

fez rode into the picture.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

A car tooting its horn and shimmering its lights up. The old wagon rode toward me. I watched the car door open and a fez pop out. Bland face like an Oriental's. A man of dainty size, just as Spencer Jr. Had described him.

[Marcel Sorak]

Your car is disabled.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Your eyesight's better than that. It crashed.

[Marcel Sorak]

Yes. Now I see. And your companion, where is he?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Dead on the front seat.

[Marcel Sorak]

Dead from so small a collision.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Dead from a bullet in his brain. So who are you?

[Marcel Sorak]

Marcel Surak?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

How did you come to be tagging up here?

[Marcel Sorak]

In pursuit of you, of course.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

What detained you? I've been admiring the landscape up here. 15 minutes at least.

[Marcel Sorak]

I lost contact with you on the detour.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

The phony detour. The way I figure it now, somebody rigged that detour to send me up a mountain that spiraled to a dead End.

[Marcel Sorak]

Yes. The detour was, how do you say? Manufactured. I examined it.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

I didn't. I still want to know how you've caught up with my party way up here, your tire threats in the pitch dark with headlights swallowed up in mists.

[Marcel Sorak]

I am very expert in scientific pursuit.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Yeah, I heard. Cairo, Lisbon, and on the Clipper without your fez, you stayed closer to the late Spencer Jr. Than his skin. Why?

[Marcel Sorak]

For the present, I do not care to divulge.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Change your mind, mister? The kid was murdered. While we both lay unconscious after that crash, someone waited up here for a free shot at the kid. If I miraculously kept the car from going over the cliff. He was in my care and I flopped. I fell for the detour gag. Now talk or I'll tear you apart.

[Marcel Sorak]

It is so very foolish. Force will not succeed.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

It won't, huh? Let's see if you're right.

[Marcel Sorak]

You are so very foolish. Force will not succeed. I am pleased to remind you.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

That fancy flip that sent me sailing. What's the trick?

[Marcel Sorak]

Jiu Jitsu. I am the finest exponent of Jiu jitsu in the world.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Let's have another go at it.

[Barry Craig]

No.

[Marcel Sorak]

This time I will shoot you.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

A gun, huh?

[Marcel Sorak]

You are under arrest, Mr. Craig.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Come again?

[Marcel Sorak]

I am a confidential investigator.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

You're a confidential investigator licensed by the

[Marcel Sorak]

governments of Egypt and Portugal. In my pocket I have credentials and a letter of introduction to your authorities.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

What's the charge against me?

[Marcel Sorak]

Murder. I am sure that you have murdered the young man. Floyd Spencer Jr. Please to enter my car.

[Barry Craig]

Sure.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

In a minute, please. Now I gotta tie my shoelace. Okay, tie it. I'm the foremost pitcher of rocks in all of the boroughs in greater New York except Brooklyn. After frisking Sorak and studying a flock of papers he kept in what looked like a diplomat's wallet, I turned him over to the New York police, credentials and all.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

It's an official case now, Craig. Of public concern. Too big for you to dominate.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

What's your verdict on Marcel Sorak?

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

Here's what he says. A confidential investigator.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Detail. By whom?

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

The authorities in Lisbon. I've checked by Transoceanic telephone. Those two attempts on the Spencer air were an embarrassment to Portuguese officialdom. As an official gesture, they assigned Sorak to watch over the boy, protect him, perhaps discover who was plotting against him.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

How is Sorak?

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

In Fullersham Hospital, recovering from a broken head.

[Barry Craig]

Urinabeen him.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

A reflex reaction. He threw a gun on me. Did you identify that picture, Joe the photographer brought you?

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

I did. Wally Mavis, a Detroit Import? He was a killer for hire.

[Barry Craig]

Did you say was? Distinctly.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Don't tell me.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

Mavis was found dead at the foot of a cliff by state troopers.

[Barry Craig]

An automobile wreck.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Foot of a cliff. You couldn't be referring to the cliff. I almost went off.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

Mavis took the same arranged detour you did, only didn't have the wheelsmanship at the dead end.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Mavis muff killing Spencer Jr. In the airport fog.

[Barry Craig]

So?

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

So his employer shut him up forever.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

His employer, huh, Trav? Yes, the hired killer, Wally Mavis. Has news of his death gotten out yet? Gotten out? To the press, over the radio, to John Q. Public.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

Oh, no, it hasn't. I don't think Mavis was identified hardly an hour ago.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Keep it like that, mom. Understood. Disclosed. Wally Mavis wasn't shut up. He's in the police hospital. He survived the wreck.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

I see your scheme.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

I'm so glad you do. Just don't gum it up, huh? The ancestral home of the Spencers, Twin Oaks, had the usual high stone fences and baying hounds inside. At long last, I got to meet uncle Stanley.

[Uncle Stanley]

Where is my nephew, mister? Did you tell me your name now?

[Barry Craig]

Three times.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Outside the door? At the door and in the vestibule.

[Uncle Stanley]

Oh, so you did. You're Mr. Howard Craig. My nephew was coming with you.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

The lawyer, Talbot, said.

[Uncle Stanley]

Now where's my nephew?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

In the morgue.

[Uncle Stanley]

The morgue, did you say?

[Barry Craig]

I said he's dead.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

He was murdered.

[Uncle Stanley]

Oh, now, was he?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Is that all the reaction, huh?

[Uncle Stanley]

What did you say now?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

I said, where's the reaction? You lost a favorite nephew.

[Uncle Stanley]

Favorite? Oh, the boy was no favorite of mine.

[Barry Craig]

I noticed.

[Uncle Stanley]

15 years in that foreign land and coming home now to steal what belongs to me. Where did you say he is now,

[Barry Craig]

did you say, huh?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Taking in a movie? Where's Talbot and Paul Shandor?

[Uncle Stanley]

Sitting in the library. The boy's no favorite of mine. Fifteen years in that foreign land, and now he comes home.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

In the library? Talbot managed a look that said he'd like to see me boiled in oil.

[Paul Shandor]

You were criminally derelict, Craig.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

I fell for a phony detour.

[Paul Shandor]

Young Spencer was entrusted to your charge, and now he's dead. Any excuses? Don't stand with me.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Is that a threat, too? Who engineered young Spencer's murder?

[Paul Shandor]

How should I know?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Try to guess. I'm staying with this case until I nail the murderer. Talbot.

[Paul Shandor]

Neochromite.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

What about neochromite?

[Paul Shandor]

It's the keystone to the entire Spencer fortune. An industrial synthetic, more revolutionary than plastics. It's the bellwether of the Stock market. Shrewd traders have made fortunes in its market rise. Shrewder traders have made greater fortunes in its market fall.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Too complex. Where's the motive for murder In Neochromite.

[Paul Shandor]

I'm speaking hypothetically, mind you. Floyd Spencer Sr. Kept iron control of Neochromite. Spencer control was jeopardized when he died.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

And Spencer control is over with young Spencer's murder. Is that the idea? Neochromite becomes a free for all?

[Paul Shandor]

Yes. Yes. There are literally scores of manipulators who can profit by young Spencer's death.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Scores of murder suspect.

[Paul Shandor]

The stakes are beyond imagination.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Suppose now we limit our imaginations to Uncle Stanley. Only hypothetically, mind you. What's Uncle's state of mind?

[Paul Shandor]

Feeble. You've talked to him.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

How about his state of energy? Energy to hire a professional killer, then go it alone and rig a phony detour sign. Then hide out on a mountaintop and fire a bullet into his nephew's brain. It takes energy and zip. And muscle. Also some mental coordination. Does old uncle add up to it?

[Paul Shandor]

Oh, possibly.

[Narrator]

He's spry enough.

[Paul Shandor]

Remarkably active, in fact, for his age. And charged with hatred.

[Barry Craig]

Hatred?

[Paul Shandor]

Hatred for the wife and mother who deserted his brother, the late Floyd Spencer senior. Hatred for the boy come home to usurp a fortune.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

A nice try, Talbot.

[Barry Craig]

What did you say?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

I said a nice try. Scores of suspects, generally in a mentally defunct uncle. Specifically, a nice try to make the situation beautifully confused. But it won't work.

[Paul Shandor]

Just what nonsense is this, Craig?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

The hired killer. The one knocked off as a precaution because I'd connived a photograph of him. I'm referring to Wally Mavis, brought in from Detroit. He didn't die, Talbot, as scheduled, therefore. Nice acting, nice facial control. You'd be an Academy Award vet in pictures if you weren't going to the electric chair.

[Paul Shandor]

Craig, you've lost your mind. I won't stand here and listen to you.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Then you'll lie here. Mavis survived the car wreck. He lived to confess. Who hired him? The last I heard, Mavis talked. 28 pages of police evidence on page one. He named you Mavis.

[Paul Shandor]

Named me?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

He spelled your name out big. He swore you hired him to murder Floyd Spencer Jr. An old psychological police

[Barry Craig]

trick with a beard like Rip Van Winkles. But how it worked.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Tablet was too much of an amateur and murder to smell out the trick or hold off from singing out his guilt in a voice that started out baritone and ended falsetto. Fred Rogers motored himself over to Twin Oaks for some post mortem so Talbot

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

had looted the Spencer estate and was

[Barry Craig]

afraid of an accounting check.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

An accounting forced by young Spencer. And Talbot would go to jail. Talbot wanted time, lots of time. He hoped to make good his theft from the Spencer estate through Neo Chromite.

[Barry Craig]

Buy cheap.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

Profit by the confused market reaction created by the murder of the Spencer ab. Buy cheap, then sell high.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

That's the whole story. Hiring me was a camouflage, a screen to hide behind.

[Barry Craig]

Not very clever in my book.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

Hiring you made Talbot a private suspect.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

In my book, too. Right from scratch. So let's not brag.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

Too bad about young Spencer. 21, with $40 million. The whole wide world, his for the taking. Kind of a sad end for him.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Don't shed tears. Trail for the wrong corpse.

[Barry Craig]

The wrong corpse.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Take again at this snapshot. I found it on Marcel Serac when I frisked him.

[Barry Craig]

Huh.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

Picture young Spencer's traveling companion, Paul Shander.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

There's a spitting of rust on your mental machinery, Lieutenant.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

Say, wait a minute.

[Barry Craig]

Uh, Paul.

[Joe Potato]

Yes, Mr. Craig?

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Marcel Serac wasn't interested in a Paul Shandor. His assignment was Floyd Spencer Jr.

[Barry Craig]

Yes, of course.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

I guess this snapshot Sorok carried on him to be Floyd Spencer Jr. As a matter of fact, I guess you to be Floyd Spencer, Jr.

[Joe Potato]

Yes, I am Floyd Spencer.

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

You changed identities with Paul Shander?

[Joe Potato]

Yes, in Lisbon, before Mr. Talbot's arrival. It was Paul's idea to cheat. Cheaters, he said, to ensure that I

[Lieutenant Trev Rogers]

lived quite a beau geste to do

[Barry Craig]

what he did for you. Laying down his life for a friend.

[Joe Potato]

Paul was a beau geste. All through him, Lieutenant, he was a man I could never be.

[Barry Craig]

We.

[Joe Potato]

We made a bargain when we exchanged identities.

[Barry Craig]

What was the bargain?

[Joe Potato]

That if he lost his life, I would lose my fortune.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Lose it how?

[Joe Potato]

Give it away, Befriend the world, was how Paul put it.

[Barry Craig]

And will you?

[Joe Potato]

I'll try to keep to my bargain. I, too, want very much to be a beau geste.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

$40 million.

[Barry Craig]

And, brother, does this sad old world need befriending. Good night, folks. See you next week.

[Narrator]

You'll be listening to William Gargan in another exciting transcribed mystery drama from the adventures of Barry Craig, confidential investigator. Tonight's story, motive for Murder, was written by John Robert. Next week, it's the strange story titled Murder in Mink, about which Barry Craig has this to say.

[Narrator/Barry Craig Commentary]

Next week, I meet a girl who has lost a mink coat, a man who has lost his head, and a

[Barry Craig]

corpse which has lost its life. See you next week, folks.

[Narrator]

Featured in the role of Talbot was Arnold Moss. Barry Craig, starring William Gargan, was under the direction of Hyman Brown. This is Don Parlo speaking.

[Barry Craig]

Next, Robert Montgomery presents Something different in news analysis on NBC.

[John Hagedorn]

Thanks for joining us at 1001 Radio Crime Solvers. Reviews are always appreciated. So if you have a moment, please do stop and send us one. Until next time, everyone stay safe and we'll be back soon.

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