DEAD BULL IN A CHINA SHOP and ANGEL OF DEATH BARRIE CRAIG, CONFIDENTIAL INVESTIGATOR

Summary

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1001 Radio Crime Solvers

Episode: “Dead Bull in a China Shop” & “Angel of Death”
Podcast Host: Jon Hagadorn
Show: BARRIE CRAIG, CONFIDENTIAL INVESTIGATOR
Release Date: September 14, 2025

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Main Theme & Overview

This episode features two classic golden age radio mysteries starring detective Barry Craig: “Dead Bull in a China Shop” and “Angel of Death.” In these dramatized stories, Barry Craig navigates cases filled with deception, murder, and dark humor, relying on sharp observation and streetwise wit. The episode transports listeners to a gritty world of nightclubs, smuggling rings, mysterious disappearances, and upper-crust intrigue—showcasing the clever plotting and character-driven banter that made radio crime dramas legendary.

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Story 1: Dead Bull in a China Shop

Starts at 01:05

Case Introduction:

• Barry Craig, working late, finds himself at Willy’s Wagon, a lunch joint, where he’s drawn into a mystery when a small, sobbing brunette, Susie, laments the theft of her enormous “bull fiddle” (double bass).
• Susie, a solo musician at the 4920 Club, has her instrument stolen—something, as Craig quips, “a little like misplacing the Empire State Building” (03:33).

Notable Quote:

“Murder is a steady occupation. The hours are irregular, the conditions under which you work aren’t always ideal, and there’s no Social Security. Of course, the pay is high, but so are the gallows from which sooner or later they hang you.”
— Barry Craig (01:05)

Key Events & Discoveries

The Club & The Theft

• Craig, Susie, and Willie investigate the club.
• They narrowly avoid being run over by a truck speeding away—the bull fiddle case spotted aboard (06:07).
• They enter the club, finding Brinker (the bouncer) unconscious, the missing instrument propped on a table, and the case gone.

The Truck Lead

• Craig calls Lt. Rogers, tracking the truck to a Christopher Malone (09:13).
• Craig and Willie head to Malone’s place—only to find him shot dead (12:33).

The Body in the Case

• Their trail leads to a garage, and later, after tailing Brinker, they stow away in the back of a truck with the bull fiddle case (16:20).
• Inside the case: another corpse—identified as Gordon Bentley, Susie's employer and the club’s owner (17:54).

Smuggling Hideout

• The truck heads out of town to a country warehouse—a front for liquor smuggling (21:02).
• Brinker delivers the corpse-in-case as a “special package” to their contact, Mr. Walsh (21:29).

The Final Confrontation

• Back in the city, the truth emerges: Susie and Brinker killed Bentley for club sale proceeds, stashed his body in the case, and tried to blame the smugglers by manipulating both the police and Barry Craig.
• Craig exposes the plan, leading to their arrest (25:05).

Resolution

• The key twist is that the case was reported as missing, not the instrument—Craig deduces the whole “missing fiddle” story was a setup, framing an innocent party (27:46).

Memorable Moment:

“You thought he went around thinking such nasty thoughts about me. And I said he was cute.”
— Susie, on being unmasked as the killer (25:45)

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Story 2: Angel of Death

Starts at 31:08

Case Introduction:

• Barry Craig saves Richie Stimson, a chauffeur-turned-Park Avenue husband, from drowning after a car accident. Richie complains of “dopey spells” and a string of bizarre mishaps (31:25).
• Craig is hired by Richie’s wife, Natalie, for $1,000 a week, to be Richie’s friend and watchdog, as he seems to suffer from mysterious, accident-prone episodes (38:29).

Notable Quote:

“One way of landing a client is to fish him out of the river, which is exactly how I commenced my confidential file…”
— Barry Craig (31:08)

Key Events & Investigations

Richie's Strange Condition

• Richie describes “depression in the head,” impaired reflexes, and accidents. Extensive medical tests yield nothing conclusive.
• Natalie offers her theory: Richie is a “cat in a strange alley” needing a friend (38:13).
• Craig investigates both Richie’s working-class background and the Park Avenue in-laws.

Family Interviews

• Richie’s brother, Waldo, is hostile, then evasive about their family’s history, ultimately revealing (after Richie’s death) that Richie was actually always prone to accidents and headaches (50:49).
• Father-in-law Bernard claims to be an anti-snob, but Craig senses something off (47:06).

The Death & Discovery

• Richie supposedly falls to his death from an 18th-story terrace while Craig is away—officially, another “accident” (48:33).

Piecing Together the Plot

• Craig learns Waldo was bribed to lie about Richie’s past—he suspects deliberate sabotage rather than medical misfortune (51:41).
• Craig confronts Natalie and Bernard, suggesting Richie was “helped” off the terrace; drugs may have been used to disrupt his coordination—dosing that dissipates before a doctor could find it (52:10).
• Natalie’s marriage is revealed to be coerced via blackmail; someone acted to remove Richie for money and security (52:44).

Resolution

• Craig arranges for an autopsy, confident that drugs used to impair Richie will be found—closing in on the murder frame-up (53:10).

Memorable Moment:

“People are all the time hiring me as a cover for their cute operations. I can be hired, baby, but not bought. Hired, but not bought.”
— Barry Craig (53:30)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Banter with Willie:
  “Think of the trouble we would have had if Susie played the piccolo.” — Willie, about the corpse in the bull fiddle case (18:15)
• On criminal psychology:
  “It’s okay to cut a competitor down a few notches, but never cut him six feet lower than the soles of his feet. That’s no longer fair competition, folks. That’s murder.” — Barry Craig (30:28)
• Mortality and vocation:
  “One nice thing about being a murderer. You don’t have to worry about being included in the old age pension fund. You’re not going to have an old age.” — Barry Craig (55:20)

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Timestamps of Key Segments

• [01:05] — “Dead Bull in a China Shop” story begins

• [03:33] — Susie describes the missing bull fiddle

• [06:07] — Suspicious truck incident at the club

• [09:13] — License plate investigation, leads to truck’s owner

• [12:33] — Discovery of Malone’s corpse

• [17:54] — Finding Bentley’s body in the case

• [21:02] — Uncovering the country smuggling warehouse

• [25:05] — Susie and Brinker’s plot exposed

• [27:46] — Craig explains how Susie’s story was a setup

• [31:08] — “Angel of Death” story begins

• [38:13] — Natalie outlines her theory about Richie

• [41:14] — Craig’s tests for Richie's coordination

• [50:49] — After Richie’s death, Waldo tells (some of) the truth

• [52:10] — Craig suspects poisoning, orders an autopsy

• [53:30] — Craig’s ethics: “Hired, but not bought.”

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Overall Tone and Style

• Witty, dry, and sardonic—Barry Craig’s narration brims with dark humor, meta asides, and world-weary wisdom.
• Interpersonal banter (especially with Willie) provides comic relief amid the suspense.
• Both stories unfold as twists on classic noir: manipulations, red herrings, and subtle clues leading to surprise reveals.

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For New Listeners

This episode is a quintessential sampling of old-time radio detective fare. You’ll find classic motifs—nightclubs, femme fatales, deadpan detectives, and convoluted crime schemes—delivered with snappy dialogue and clever plotting. The stories demonstrate not just deduction and action, but a nuanced understanding of human nature and the blurred lines between guilt and innocence.

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End of summary.

Transcript

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[Barry Craig]

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[Barry Craig]

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[Narrator]

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[Barry Craig]

Murder is a steady occupation has its handicaps. The hours are irregular, the conditions under which you work aren't always ideal, and there's no Social Security. Of course the pay is high, but so are the gallows from which sooner or later they hang you.

[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. If you're a confidential investigator and if you're smart, you put yourself on a schedule. You get to the office at 9 and get out of it at 5. You eat a leisurely dinner and spend the rest of the evening with a book you hope is good. That is, if you're smart. If you're me, you get restless and around midnight you drop in at Willy's Wagon. You find Willie morosely staring at his coffee iron, small but not underprivileged brunette with her head at the far end of the counter, sobbing. For a wild moment you think that maybe Willie has wronged our little Nell. You then dismiss such happy fancies. You try to ignore the brunette who keeps right on sobbing, and you make a brilliant opening remark. What's new, Willie?

[Susie]

Ha.

[Barry Craig]

Well, all right. How are the hamburgers?

[Willie]

Not new.

[Barry Craig]

Think I should take a chance on one?

[Willie]

You got the pendants? No, I'LL make you a hamburger.

[Barry Craig]

Thanks.

[Willie]

Hey, better have a cup of coffee first. Why deaden your stomach nerves?

[Barry Craig]

I've tasted your hamburgers before.

[Willie]

Well, they ain't improved since then.

[Barry Craig]

Willie.

[Waldo Stimson]

Huh?

[Barry Craig]

I know she didn't come with the place. I never seen her here before. She's pretty, but does she have to make that noise?

[Willie]

She is suffering from grief.

[Barry Craig]

She had the blue plate dinner here.

[Willie]

According to what she tells me, she had a great loss.

[Barry Craig]

What did she lose? Her bull fiddle. A what? A bull fiddle.

[Willie]

You know, them bloated violins.

[Barry Craig]

I know she plays a double bass.

[Willie]

What's that?

[Barry Craig]

A Carnegie hall for a bull fiddle.

[Willie]

Oh yeah? Yeah. Except nobody plays on a bull fiddle that she ain't got.

[Barry Craig]

It would be harder anyway. Come to think of it, losing one of those things is a little like misplacing the Empire State Building.

[Willie]

It was swiped off her. Here's your hamburger. Thanks, Mr. Craig. Maybe you can help Susie. She don't find a bull fiddle, she's liable to be out of work. She is accustomed to eating, so I do not think this will be good for her. Susie, come here. I want you to meet Mr. Craig.

[Barry Craig]

Oh.

[Susie]

Hi Mr. Craig.

[Barry Craig]

Hello Susie.

[Willie]

Mr. Craig ain't only a friend of mine, Susie. He is also a confidential investigator. You ought to tell them your trouble.

[Susie]

I only got one trouble.

[Barry Craig]

You lost your double bass.

[Susie]

Uh huh. Only the kind of music I play. It's a bull fiddle.

[Barry Craig]

Where did you lose it?

[Susie]

At the club. The 4920 Club.

[Barry Craig]

You're part of the band that plays the club?

[Susie]

I play solos. The customers like it because I'm so small and the bull fiddle so big. And besides, I'm cheaper than the band.

[Barry Craig]

So they like bull fiddle. Isn't the kind of a thing a man could slip into his coat pocket. There can't be many things harder to steal.

[Susie]

Whoever stole mine didn't worry about that.

[Barry Craig]

Well, when did you miss it?

[Susie]

About an hour ago. I got my number, went out for a walk and when I got back.

[Barry Craig]

No bull fiddle, no bullfittle. Well, there must have been people around.

[Susie]

Well, the club closed early tonight. There wasn't anybody around when I got back except Brinker.

[Barry Craig]

Brinker? Who's Brinker?

[Susie]

Well, he's almost as big as you, Rob, but not so cute.

[Barry Craig]

Well, I'd have trouble recognizing him from that.

[Susie]

Well, he's sort of a caretaker and club bouncer, you know.

[Barry Craig]

I don't. I'm afraid I may find out though. All right, Susie, let's go over to the club. Maybe I'll be Able to come up with something that might help guys.

[Susie]

Thanks, Mr. Greg.

[Willie]

Hey, wait a minute. I'm closing up. Anyways, I'll tag along.

[Barry Craig]

Why?

[Willie]

Well, I'm intrigued. I would like to meet a character who goes around swiping bull fiddles. I would also like to warn him to lay off the Brooklyn Bridge. It's fastened down.

[Barry Craig]

Willie closed up and the three of us piled into my car and we took off. Eventually we arrived at the club.

[Willie]

Hey, Dick, the club is dark.

[Susie]

Well, I got a key to the state store. It's just down the alley here. Mr. Craig, why would anybody want to steal my bolt fiddle?

[Barry Craig]

I don't know.

[Willie]

There's a truck parked outside the stage door.

[Barry Craig]

Hey, it's coming straight down the alley.

[Waldo Stimson]

It is?

[Barry Craig]

Susie, Willie, get up against the building. Flatten out. You all right?

[Susie]

Quite. I guess so. It was so close though.

[Barry Craig]

That truck didn't care much whether it ran us down or not. Back of it was open. And Susie, you had a case for the bull fiddle?

[Susie]

Uh huh.

[Barry Craig]

It was on the truck.

[Susie]

Oh, with a fiddle in it.

[Willie]

Hey, we ought to be chasing it.

[Barry Craig]

Or something had too big a jump on us. I got the license number though. 4x354. Maybe it'll come in handy later on. Right now let's get into the club.

[Willie]

We're gonna lock the stage door after the bull is stolen, huh?

[Barry Craig]

Another one like that and I'll see to it you're forced to eat in your own lunch wagon.

[Willie]

Nobody could be that cruel.

[Barry Craig]

Say, it's open. They had no chance to lock it. Just a work light on over the dance floor.

[Myra Wilson]

Mr. Craig?

[Barry Craig]

Yeah. One large man lying down.

[Susie]

That's. That's Brinker.

[Barry Craig]

Well, he's alive. He was slugged and passed out, but I don't think there's any permanent damage.

[Willie]

Mr. Craig?

[Barry Craig]

Yeah.

[Willie]

Over here at the edge of the floor.

[Barry Craig]

On my way. Pretty.

[Susie]

Well, that. That's my bull fiddle.

[Barry Craig]

It was a double bass, all right. Whoever had left it here, it propped it up against the ringside table. Bull fiddle isn't a thing of beauty. Usually, though I don't mind looking at one. This one I didn't like to look at. Think about. That's yours, Susie.

[Susie]

Yes, it is.

[Barry Craig]

The last time you saw it, was it out here on the floor?

[Susie]

Oh, no, it was back at the little bandstand down there. It was brought out only when I did my number and then it was.

[Barry Craig]

Is there a phone in the place?

[Susie]

In the office. Why?

[Barry Craig]

This may surprise you. The reason why I want a phone is to Make a phone call.

[Willie]

We're surprised, but what are you gonna call about? Susie's got her fiddle back.

[Barry Craig]

Sure. She hasn't got the case, though.

[Willie]

Is that something to get excited about? A bull filled case?

[Barry Craig]

I don't know. I hope not.

[Susie]

You're worried about something, aren't you?

[Barry Craig]

Lead me to the phone, Suzy. I want to find a truck. Maybe it was the empty club, shadows huddling in the unlit corners, the floor pale and shining in the silence that did the job on my nerves. Whatever it was, they were jumping. Lieutenant Rogers, Homicide. Trav, this is Barry. Things are quiet down here at Homicide. Barry, do you have to finish this call now? Stop playing with your Phi Beta Kappa key. I want to know who owns a truck. License number 4x354. What does the truck do?

[Waldo Stimson]

Run you over?

[Barry Craig]

It came close. 4x354. Hang on. If I can wake anybody up over.

[Waldo Stimson]

In Motor Vehicles, I'll have it for.

[Barry Craig]

You in a couple of minutes. Thanks, Treb. I hung on. I thought of Susie playing that bull fiddle. I wondered if she was any good as a musician. I decided she wouldn't have to be very good as a musician. Barry? Yes.

[Waldo Stimson]

Name's Christopher malone. President's address.

[Barry Craig]

74 Eastlake Garage at 12 River. That's what I wanted. You got it.

[Waldo Stimson]

Barry?

[Barry Craig]

Yeah.

[Waldo Stimson]

Need a hand?

[Barry Craig]

I don't think so, tramp. All I've got so far is a sort of hunch. Harvey. Want me to think? Come on back to that bridge game. No one in the department plays bridge while on duty. They play pinochle.

[Narrator]

So long, Barry.

[Barry Craig]

So long. Come on, Suzy. Let's go back and see if Breaker has come, too.

[Susie]

What's wrong with you, Mr. Brinker?

[Barry Craig]

I got a headache and both heads. But this here ain't my head. This here is a lump on my head. Are you a Brinker or. What happened? I was straightening up the place and all of a sudden I feel somebody breathing down the back of my neck. So I says, stop breathing down the back of my neck. So he stops breathing down the back of my neck. And he hits me on the head. I shouldn't have told him to stop breathing down the back of my neck. Maybe not. Did you see who it was? I didn't see nothing to nobody. Too bad. Well, Susie, I'll take you home. Willie, you coming along? Sure, Frank. Can you lock it up somewhere? Yeah, sure. One of the back rooms. Fine. Let's go. Well, it's all mixed up. Someone stole your fiddle. You sure of that, Susie?

[Susie]

I'm sure of it, Mr. Gray.

[Barry Craig]

Then the fiddle was returned and the case was stolen. I'll hop in. Anybody got any answers? Well, maybe I'm asking the right questions, but none of the right people. We'll keep trying.

[Waldo Stimson]

To.

[Barry Craig]

We dropped Susie off at her apartment, swung around and headed downtown again. The 74 East Lake. And a truck driver named Christopher Malone. Maybe I ought to take you home, Willie.

[Willie]

I ain't no hurry.

[Barry Craig]

But your wife.

[Willie]

That's why I ain't in a hurry.

[Barry Craig]

All right, she's your wife.

[Willie]

Don't rub it in.

[Barry Craig]

But I'm perfectly willing to share the truck driver with you.

[Willie]

Hey, the guy's truck ain't out front.

[Barry Craig]

No. Well, the name played over the doorbell. Yeah, Malone. Maybe he's a hard sleeper. Yeah, maybe. Second open door tonight. There's a light switch. I get it.

[Willie]

You know, a guy could resent our barging inland.

[Barry Craig]

Not this one. Well, according to the police, Christopher Malone lives at 74 Eastleigh. They're wrong.

[Waldo Stimson]

He's dead there.

[Narrator]

Back to William Gargan, starring as Barry Craig in just a moment. And now back to William Gargan, starring as Barry Craig, Confidential investigator.

[Barry Craig]

Trev came out with a couple of the boys from Homicide. They all stood around and stared at the corpse of the late Mr. Malone. He paid no attention. Corpses rarely do. We'd had a head start. We'd seen him before they did, so we left earlier.

[Willie]

Guys don't look good when they're shot full of bullets.

[Barry Craig]

It's never been recommended as a beauty aid.

[Willie]

He was the truck driver who drove away with Susie's bull pedal case, huh?

[Barry Craig]

Yes. Yeah.

[Willie]

So what happened to his truck and the case?

[Barry Craig]

I don't know.

[Willie]

Why would anyone swipe a bullfiddle case without the bull fiddle in it anyways?

[Barry Craig]

Maybe he didn't know the fiddle wasn't in the case.

[Willie]

He's sure gonna be disappointed when he gets home and opens the case and reaches for the fiddle.

[Barry Craig]

Somehow I don't think so. Don't ask me why either.

[Willie]

I won't. You wouldn't answer. Like if you was to ask me what goes into Willie's Irish stew, would I answer, but did The SK Car ain't aimed at my house or yours.

[Barry Craig]

Neither of us live down on River Street. That's bad. Malone's garage is on River Street.

[Willie]

Kind of late for visiting the guy's place of business. Except he won't be transacting business there tonight, I hope.

[Barry Craig]

River street pitched sharply to the Hudson below. A murky light picked out a warm sign. Swaying in a slight Wind. The sign read Christopher Malone, licensed trucking. Large garage doors were shut. Smaller door set in. The panel of one of them was locked. You couldn't look inside.

[Willie]

It's been warmer in Alaska.

[Barry Craig]

Yeah. We've got to get in.

[Willie]

You figured the truck's inside, huh?

[Barry Craig]

Yeah.

[Willie]

When we was back in Malone's apartment, why didn't you swipe his keys off of him?

[Barry Craig]

Because somebody else had already done so. That ain't comforting.

[Willie]

Because whoever knocked off Malone is probably a murderer. Probably he is a murderer.

[Barry Craig]

The question is.

[Waldo Stimson]

Shh.

[Willie]

The question is.

[Waldo Stimson]

Shh.

[Barry Craig]

Someone coming down the street. Willie, this doorway. Quick.

[Willie]

Who is it?

[Barry Craig]

Too far away yet. Besides, it may be nobody connected with Malone or what makes you think I'm.

[Willie]

Gonna be so lucky? For the coffee I serve alone. I deserve it.

[Barry Craig]

It's Brinker. Yeah, he's stopping at the garage. He's got a key. Big doors. Come on. Lights on inside. Trucks there. Back of it. Towards us. Brinka must be up front. Come on, we're getting into that truck. Trucks ain't very comfortable.

[Willie]

Personally, I would rather lay down in a bed. One nice thing. No window between the cab and the.

[Barry Craig]

Rest of the truck back here.

[Willie]

So Brinker won't spot us while he keeps going. But what happens when he stops?

[Barry Craig]

We'll worry about that later.

[Willie]

You got something better to worry about now? Yeah, tell me so I can worry about it too.

[Barry Craig]

Over to your left.

[Willie]

Hmm. Own a bullfettle case? Still where it was when we spotted it. I should worry about the case?

[Barry Craig]

Only about what's inside of. Was pretty clear, wasn't it? Sure. I didn't know who he might be, but that he'd be there. That was as certain as death.

[Willie]

Hey, the joker driving this truck is heading out of town.

[Barry Craig]

Come on. We'll try to get that case open.

[Willie]

Give me one good reason.

[Barry Craig]

Corpses aren't pretty. Remember what Malone looked like?

[Willie]

I'm willing to forget.

[Barry Craig]

That's what murderers would like.

[Willie]

Yeah. Okay, we get the case open.

[Barry Craig]

Well, there's a snap lock on it. Hope we don't need a key. No. Ought to open. Easy now.

[Willie]

Okay, you got it Open and grab him, Willie.

[Barry Craig]

Okay, I got him.

[Willie]

Yeah, but I don't want him. He's dead.

[Barry Craig]

Ease him down to the floor. I'll get the case down flat.

[Willie]

He's down fine.

[Barry Craig]

Well, there's a wallet in his breast pocket, papers in it. Uh huh.

[Waldo Stimson]

Uh huh what?

[Barry Craig]

His name's Gordon Bentley. Bentley?

[Willie]

Hey, that's the guy who owns the club where War Susie works.

[Barry Craig]

Interesting. Come on, let's Put him back in the case.

[Willie]

Yeah, but he won't be able to breathe it. Forget I said anything.

[Barry Craig]

Okay, let's go now. It's a tight fit. Well, it'll do.

[Willie]

Think of the trouble we would have had if Susie played the piccolo.

[Barry Craig]

We wouldn't have been here if she had.

[Willie]

The guy was shot just like Malone.

[Barry Craig]

Yeah, which is interesting.

[Willie]

I don't think it's any more interesting than if the guy had been strangled or even poisoned.

[Barry Craig]

You don't appreciate the finer points.

[Willie]

Yeah?

[Waldo Stimson]

What are they?

[Barry Craig]

I'll let you know when I find out.

[Willie]

Thanks. So do we jump off the truck now or five seconds from now?

[Barry Craig]

We stay on. The truck's hitting at least 50. We jump now, we could get killed.

[Willie]

We stay on, we will get killed.

[Barry Craig]

I doubt it.

[Waldo Stimson]

Why?

[Barry Craig]

No one could ever get all three of us into that case.

[Willie]

We're getting off the highway.

[Barry Craig]

It's slowing down. We may have a chance to jump for cover when it stops.

[Willie]

Oh, sounds like we're surrounded.

[Barry Craig]

We stay.

[Willie]

Sooner or later somebody's going to spot us back here.

[Barry Craig]

And maybe it'll be later. Shh. How are things, brinker? They're fine, Mr. Walsh. We got a load ready for you to run in. Okay, Mr. Walsh. Why I'm here.

[Willie]

Everybody's leaving.

[Waldo Stimson]

Shh.

[Barry Craig]

This trip, I got something special for you, Mr. Walsh. You have? What? I'll tell you about it when we start loading the truck.

[Willie]

We ain't popular. Everybody's gone away.

[Barry Craig]

We get out. Hey, the house is set back from the highway. It's a big place. Yeah. Yeah.

[Willie]

Well, let's not wait.

[Barry Craig]

We have to. If.

[Willie]

If I get out of this alive, I. I'll use meat in the hamburgers.

[Barry Craig]

Don't say anything. You'll be sorry. Paul, come on.

[Willie]

What are we gonna do? Knock on the door and tell them we're working our way through college? This wouldn't work. They're still looking for me in the sixth grade.

[Barry Craig]

The side of the house, Willie.

[Willie]

The servant's entrance, a window.

[Barry Craig]

Any place we can see what's going on inside. That one.

[Willie]

This gets around, they'll be calling me Peeping Willie. Lots of guys in there, very sociable.

[Barry Craig]

Not to mention the cases of liquor all over the place. Looks like this would be a warehouse for Bentley's club.

[Willie]

It's kind of inconvenient. Must be 50 miles out of town.

[Barry Craig]

Must be a reason why Bentley keeps his liquor out here.

[Willie]

His doctor told him to stay away from liquor.

[Barry Craig]

Another one like that and I'll hand you your head.

[Willie]

You Can't. It's attached to me.

[Barry Craig]

Something can be done about that.

[Willie]

Nice contortions you're going through.

[Waldo Stimson]

Why?

[Barry Craig]

Trying to get a better look at the liquor cases. Imported stuff. Yeah. No customs stamp on them.

[Willie]

Smuggled, huh?

[Barry Craig]

Yeah. Explains the location of this place, the truck, Mr. Walsh and friends. The smugglers, I guess. And also Brinker, the delivery boy, huh? The delivery boy. What it doesn't explain is why Brinker is bringing Walsh a bull fiddle case complete with a recent corpse. The men inside showed signs of moving. Willie and I moved first across the road from the truck in a clump of trees. You said you had something special for me. That's Trinka. Oh, I nearly forgot. Mr. Welsh, what I got for you is a bull fiddle in its case.

[Willie]

You don't say.

[Barry Craig]

Pantry thinks I ought to start in music, maybe. All I know is you're supposed to keep it here for a while. Okay. I'll have the boys unloaded.

[Willie]

But you know something?

[Barry Craig]

I'd be a lot happier if instead of a bull fiddle, Susie was in that case. They unloaded the bull fiddle case, loaded the liquor and the truck went away. Willie and I stuck it out for a while and also went away.

[Willie]

You know, Mr. Craig, feet are never gonna replace the wheel.

[Barry Craig]

Maybe we'll get a hit soon.

[Willie]

We better.

[Barry Craig]

Also, we're in a hurry.

[Willie]

Where do we go from here if we ever get transportation?

[Barry Craig]

Susie's apartment duty or.

[Willie]

You think it's a nice idea, Willie?

[Barry Craig]

Duty's always nice idea. We got a hitch to the nearest town. There I made a quick phone call to Mr. Walsh. I advised him to look inside the bull fiddle case. Then Willie and I grabbed a cab and headed for Susie. We got there.

[Susie]

Oh. Oh, Ma. Mr. Craig, I'm Willie.

[Barry Craig]

May we come in?

[Susie]

Of course you may. I was asleep.

[Barry Craig]

I thought you might be. But this is important.

[Susie]

Something's happened.

[Barry Craig]

Susie, how do you and Bentley get along?

[Susie]

Oh, we get along fine. He even wants me to marry him.

[Barry Craig]

How do you feel about that?

[Susie]

I haven't been able to make up my mind. But he's got so much money anyway, I'm not sure I can trust him. A man who runs a nightclub. What kind of husband would he make?

[Barry Craig]

I've never thought about it.

[Susie]

So Gordon, that's Mr. Bentley, said he was gonna sell the club to prove he really loved me.

[Barry Craig]

Did he sell it?

[Susie]

He was supposed to this afternoon for cash. Oh, sure. I don't think the man Gordon's selling the club to can write. Besides, they wouldn't want to have any records. On account of income taxes.

[Waldo Stimson]

So?

[Susie]

Well, that's one of the reasons. I don't know if I should marry Gordon. That's Mr. Bentley.

[Barry Craig]

Have you seen Gordon? That's Mr. Bent. I mean Bentley. Today?

[Susie]

No. My bow fill was stolen so I forgot all about him. And besides, I.

[Barry Craig]

We found the bull fiddle case.

[Susie]

Susie, you're a darling. Where is it?

[Barry Craig]

That's not important. What is important is why was just the case stolen the second time?

[Susie]

Gosh, I don't know.

[Barry Craig]

Susie. Suppose I murder someone.

[Susie]

Why would you want to do such a terrible thing?

[Barry Craig]

Well, just suppose I do. I murder him in a nightclub. I've got to hide his body until I can dispose of it safely. Where can I hide it?

[Susie]

Well, don't ask me.

[Barry Craig]

After all, there's a girl who plays a bull fiddle in the club. Which means there's a bull fiddle case around. The man I killed wasn't a big man, so I put him in my bull fiddle case. Right?

[Susie]

Well, it's a very nasty thing. But you didn't kill anyone.

[Barry Craig]

Somebody did put the corpse in your fiddle case.

[Susie]

The Corpse of who?

[Barry Craig]

Mr. Craig Gordon Bentley. Here, you better sit down. Oh.

[Susie]

Oh, that's terrible. I'll never be able to use that case again.

[Barry Craig]

Well, I suppose not.

[Susie]

I'll never be able to marry gordon. That's Mr. Bentley either.

[Barry Craig]

You don't really care about that, do you?

[Susie]

You mean because I never really loved him?

[Barry Craig]

I mean because you already have all his money.

[Willie]

Hey, Mr. Craig, you're saying she.

[Barry Craig]

That's what I'm saying.

[Willie]

She killed Bentley. Oh, for the cash he sold a club for. Only she's such a small girl.

[Barry Craig]

She had help. All right, boys, nice and quiet. That is Brinker's help. Stop flapping your lips. You don't know a thing. You Brinker and Susie killed Bentley, lifted the cash, hid Bentley in the fiddle case. You arranged for the late Mr. Malone to pick it up and deliver to Walsh out in country. You get around, Craig. Thanks, but I spotted that case in the truck. So while I took Susie home, you killed Malone closing that road.

[Susie]

You thought he went around thinking such nasty thoughts about me. And I said he was cute.

[Barry Craig]

Shut up, Susie. Plan was simple. You delivered the case with Bentley inside and asked Walsh to keep it. Susie went out and planted the stolen bull fiddle story with Willie. And as it happened with me. Why, tomorrow morning Susie would yell to the cops, Bentley is missing. I'd remember the bull fiddle. Brinker would remember Walsh and the country hideout.

[Willie]

The cops would grab Walsh the case, find a corpse in it and Walsh would fry.

[Barry Craig]

Thanks, Willie. I got a surprise for you. It's still gonna be that way, because after you two jokers go away, you're dead. Someplace the program goes on, like scheduled. Oh, don't answer that. We don't care who it is. Sure you care, because before coming here, I phoned your friend Walsh. I told him to look inside that fiddle cake.

[Willie]

Right around, boys.

[Barry Craig]

Drop the pop gun, Brinker. Okay. You should have dropped it, Brinker. Your arm would feel a lot better. But cheer up. Maybe it'll be healed before they execute you. That wasn't a nice thing to say. But then, murderers aren't nice people. I phoned the police, and by the time they arrived, Walsh had discreetly gone for a long walk. The cops would get him anyway. However, they took over Brinker and Susie.

[Willie]

I hate to ask, but something must have tipped you off.

[Barry Craig]

Susie did.

[Willie]

I didn't hear.

[Barry Craig]

Sure you did. It was a phony story, Willie. We were supposed to think someone had put Bentley in that afternoon. Somebody did, sure. But if they did, the bull fiddle would have been out in the open. It had to be.

[Willie]

Yeah, Susie would have noticed that. Would have wondered who took it out.

[Barry Craig]

She would have checked. And if she'd been telling the truth, she would have said the case was stolen, not the fiddle. But the truth wasn't what Susie was dealing in. It was murder.

[Waldo Stimson]

Mm.

[Willie]

Well, thanks for taking me home. And after all this time, when I walk into that house where my wife is no doubt waiting up for me, and her eyes light on me, it won't be joy, Mr. Craig.

[Barry Craig]

Well, what will it be?

[Willie]

Murder.

[Narrator]

You have been listening to William Gargan in another exciting transcribed mystery drama from the adventures of Barry Craig, Confidential Investigator.

[Waldo Stimson]

Foreign.

[Narrator]

Gargan stars as Barry Craig, Confidential Investigator.

[Waldo Stimson]

Let's map out this week's amazing destinations and travel tips.

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Honestly, Will, I didn't plan any trips. But I did switch to T Mobile with their new family freedom offer.

[Waldo Stimson]

That's not the itinerary we're following.

[Mint Mobile Announcer]

Well, I'm departing from AT&T and embarking on a new journey with T Mobile. They paid off my family's four phones up to $3200 and gave us four new phones on the house.

[Waldo Stimson]

Bon voyage.

[T-Mobile Announcer]

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[Mint Mobile Announcer]

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[Barry Craig]

It's okay to cut a competitor down.

[Waldo Stimson]

A few notches, but never cut him six feet lower than the soles of his feet. That's no longer fair competition, folks. That's murder.

[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. One way of landing a client is to fish him out of the river, which is exactly how I commenced my confidential file.

[Waldo Stimson]

In a character named Richie Stimson.

[Barry Craig]

I jump with my shoes on. I found Stimson's hat before I found Stimson. Nobody rescues a hat, so I didn't. When Stimson finally bobbed into reach, he promptly stuck one thumb in my eye and the remaining one in my juggler veins. Another thing nobody wants to do is drown in a stranger's embrace. When his jaw came up flush with the surface, I landed on it. He lay quietly on his back now, spouting water from the mouse like Moby Dick. And I began floating him to shore. On shore, the closest shelter we could find was a junk dealer's basement store. I stuck Moby Dick right up against the stove so he could dry out. Stand there till the icicles melt, Buster. Then I got my shoes off.

[Waldo Stimson]

Squish.

[Barry Craig]

I'd been really walking in canal boats. Rescue a guy from drowning, you expect his first speech to be thank you, but not this joker.

[Waldo Stimson]

My, my, my car.

[Barry Craig]

Hey, hey, what about my car? Oh, I'm keeping it as a souvenir of the occasion. Hey, it's a brand new job.

[Waldo Stimson]

The fish will be pleased to know.

[Barry Craig]

Bring close a minute, Buster.

[Waldo Stimson]

Clean.

[Barry Craig]

That's close enough. I want to smell your breath. I. I wasn't drunk going through that guardrail. Get that idea out of your head. Just lousy driving, huh? Yeah, it's coming back to me now.

[Waldo Stimson]

What is? That same feeling I've been getting lately. Dopey all of a sudden. And the blues. Like I'm depressed up here. Something starts fogging up in your head? Yeah? Yeah.

[Barry Craig]

Makes me want to shut my eyes.

[Waldo Stimson]

Like I been on a weekend toot and now I got to sleep.

[Barry Craig]

And do you shut your eyes?

[Waldo Stimson]

I don't know.

[Barry Craig]

Busted.

[Waldo Stimson]

Why? Confidentially, who are you?

[Willie]

Richie Stimson.

[Barry Craig]

Chauffeur. You used to be.

[Waldo Stimson]

And now a husband. That's your occupation? Yeah, that is. Oh. Who you?

[Barry Craig]

Barry Craig. I'm a detective.

[Waldo Stimson]

Well, you know.

[Barry Craig]

And where can I bill you? Bill me for what? A suit of clothes. Look. Oh, yes.

[Waldo Stimson]

Tom. Hey, you sure it wasn't torn before? Now that's what I call gratitude. 4, 72 1/2 Park Avenue.

[Barry Craig]

Send me the numbers and I'll write out a check.

[Waldo Stimson]

Where?

[Barry Craig]

Park Avenue, man.

[Waldo Stimson]

What's the surprise?

[Barry Craig]

Well, your kisser. It's got 10th Avenue on it.

[Waldo Stimson]

So I moved east seven blocks.

[Barry Craig]

So you married east seven blocks. I mail Stimps in my bill. Pursuit of clothes and a new pair of shoes.

[Waldo Stimson]

And surprise of surprises. I got a prompt reply in the return mail.

[Barry Craig]

Addressee's name on it.

[Waldo Stimson]

Simpson, with the Park Avenue address. There was a check in it, but.

[Barry Craig]

Not exactly for a hundred dollars.

[Waldo Stimson]

I had politely requested the check had an extra zero on it.

[Barry Craig]

$1,000 check signed Natalie Stinson. I read the short note that came with it. Dear Mr. Craig, a small token of.

[Waldo Stimson]

My gratitude for the wonderful thing you did for my husband. Signed Mrs. Natalie Stimson. There was a postscript.

[Barry Craig]

I would very much like to meet.

[Waldo Stimson]

You at your convenience. A thousand bucks was the most elegant persuasion I knew.

[Barry Craig]

Information. I'd like the phone number of a golden angel. Her name?

[Waldo Stimson]

Oh, this is Natalie Stimson.

[Barry Craig]

472 and a half Park Avenue. We met at a rendezvous at the ladies insistence, not mine. An out of the way private for members only joint called the Club Socrates. Where people dined lying down on couches.

[Waldo Stimson]

Like the old Roman nobility.

[Barry Craig]

The mates of the hotel wore a toga and the slant eyed waitresses were all made up to resemble Cleopatra. Natalie tried to clear up my confusion.

[Myra Wilson]

It's a revival of old Roman dining habits.

[Barry Craig]

Barry.

[Myra Wilson]

It's the newest fad. Imagine it restores eating to what it should be.

[Waldo Stimson]

And what's that?

[Myra Wilson]

Why, life's most gratifying experience. A sheerly exotic.

[Barry Craig]

Enough said.

[Myra Wilson]

So kick your shoes off, lie back on the couch, really enjoy it.

[Waldo Stimson]

Barry. So tell Me tell you why we're wallowing here. Oh, oh.

[Myra Wilson]

I want to talk to you about Lizzie.

[Barry Craig]

For your ex chauffeur and present husband, it's his unaccountable depressions you worry a little.

[Myra Wilson]

Richie's told you about them?

[Waldo Stimson]

You sound surprised. I am.

[Myra Wilson]

For Richie to confide so quickly, wow.

[Barry Craig]

I'm a guy people right away can find. He says he gets, quote, dopey all.

[Waldo Stimson]

Of a sudden, gets the boo, becomes depressed. And then up here in the Bean.

[Barry Craig]

Something starts fogging up.

[Waldo Stimson]

Unquote.

[Myra Wilson]

His reflexes go awry. He loses sense and coordination. I think it happened time and again.

[Barry Craig]

Give me an example.

[Waldo Stimson]

What?

[Myra Wilson]

Well, in entering my dad's brokerage office some weeks ago, Richie burst through the door but continued going across the room. He didn't stop at dad's desk.

[Barry Craig]

And where did he continue on to?

[Myra Wilson]

Right through the window.

[Waldo Stimson]

How far did he fall? Two stories.

[Myra Wilson]

The miracle was he landed on a terrace on the 26th story.

[Waldo Stimson]

Otherwise, 28th floors to the sidewalk. Otherwise a horrible death.

[Myra Wilson]

What do you make of it?

[Barry Craig]

I could go medical and call it an unconscious suicide wish. But I won't say it.

[Myra Wilson]

Then what do you say?

[Barry Craig]

I say hand Richie over to a doctor.

[Myra Wilson]

But he's been to doctors.

[Waldo Stimson]

Doctors in the pool.

[Myra Wilson]

Six doctors this year.

[Waldo Stimson]

What did the last chap say? That Richie's a normal naray, yet he's accident prone.

[Myra Wilson]

Accident prone. Those are exactly the words the other fellow the lay analysts used.

[Barry Craig]

So keep him under glass. Don't let him roam around.

[Myra Wilson]

Now is that practical advice?

[Waldo Stimson]

Maybe not.

[Barry Craig]

Now, besides sympathy, what do you want of me?

[Myra Wilson]

I want you to be Richie's man. Friend.

[Barry Craig]

Him again.

[Myra Wilson]

You see, I've got my own theory about Richie.

[Waldo Stimson]

That being.

[Myra Wilson]

But he's a cat in a strange alley. He needs someone around him to feel at home with. Someone who talks his language.

[Barry Craig]

Same being a slob like me, huh?

[Waldo Stimson]

I'll pay $1,000 a week for me to chum around with Richie, room with.

[Myra Wilson]

Him, play gin rummy with him, go off to burlesque shows. All the things which he used to enjoy doing.

[Barry Craig]

And for how long am I Damon to his Pythias?

[Waldo Stimson]

One month. One month for $4,000. Sold. And you'll do it for four grand.

[Barry Craig]

I swim underwater to Siam.

[Waldo Stimson]

And that's her.

[Barry Craig]

I came to move over to Park.

[Waldo Stimson]

Avenue, but not without protest from my newfound buddy. Ah, get your hat and scram out of here.

[Barry Craig]

I do that. I'm unemployed.

[Waldo Stimson]

Hey, who's paying you? My father in law.

[Barry Craig]

I haven't met him.

[Waldo Stimson]

Yet. Natalie. Natalie. So Natalie hires you to watch over me, huh?

[Barry Craig]

Oh, you got that wife and a million.

[Waldo Stimson]

Hey, what's Natalie paying you? Oh, a mere thousand a week.

[Barry Craig]

Five hundred.

[Waldo Stimson]

What happened to my other five? I just cut in for it. You did? Yeah. I could use more dough. They're keeping me on short rations.

[Barry Craig]

And if I get stubborn about my.

[Waldo Stimson]

Whole thousand, we're not best friends no more.

[Barry Craig]

You run out of here like a.

[Waldo Stimson]

Thief, you're unemployed bum. Okay, okay, partner. Uh, I'll give you a horse, you run your five back to a grand.

[Barry Craig]

Decent of you.

[Waldo Stimson]

Hey, what do we do today?

[Barry Craig]

Anybody for the zoo?

[Waldo Stimson]

Zoo, my eye. Hey, I know what.

[Barry Craig]

So do I. Oh, hey, you're not a mind reader. Your mind reads easy, see? Crescent Burlesque house over in Hoboken.

[Waldo Stimson]

What do you know? You are a mind reader at that.

[Barry Craig]

That was the chauffeur turned blue blood in one of his optimistic moods. I also got him in his pessimistic mood. And right on top of breakfast.

[Waldo Stimson]

Hey, the fox coming up. It's beating at my eyeballs.

[Barry Craig]

You're depressed today.

[Waldo Stimson]

I feel lousy. Boy, how lousy I feel hating the world and yourself. Yeah. Yeah, that's one way of putting it.

[Barry Craig]

Hey, you.

[Waldo Stimson]

Look, I. I can't even tie my shoelaces.

[Barry Craig]

Handshaking. Yeah, like that head mom over at the Crescent last night. Reflexes all shot, huh?

[Waldo Stimson]

Who knows about reflexes?

[Barry Craig]

Now, look. Hold one arm out straight in front of you, huh?

[Waldo Stimson]

Okay.

[Barry Craig]

Now what? Close your eyes. Oh, they're closed. Now bring a finger back and touch the tip of your nose.

[Waldo Stimson]

Touch the.

[Barry Craig]

Oh. Oh, trouble.

[Waldo Stimson]

I jabbed my finger in my eye.

[Barry Craig]

Couldn't find your own nose, huh? Hey. Hey, what does that mean? Your coordination's off. Way off.

[Waldo Stimson]

Way, way off. Hey, what. What does it to me, huh? We ask a doctor. What Been the doctors. I. I've been tapped with little hammers, X rayed.

[Barry Craig]

I've been laying on couches and talking myself hoarse. Talking about what? Oh, anything that came in my head. Psychiatry. This was about kid days.

[Waldo Stimson]

My old lady. The time Lefty Louie came at me.

[Barry Craig]

With a butcher knife over a bra. This was. And about Ms. Curran. Ms. Curran? Yeah, my. My teacher, 4B. I used to dream about her a lot. I figured I'd marry her when I grew up. So why didn't you?

[Waldo Stimson]

By the time I was in 4B, she was 72.

[Barry Craig]

No.

[Waldo Stimson]

No, what? I got in for doctors.

[Barry Craig]

I tried them.

[Waldo Stimson]

Hey, what we do today, huh?

[Barry Craig]

We'll stay indoors and play git. Leave us not tempt your reflex. Richie had been to doctors, but I hadn't. So I tried one. An old friend. He'd room with my aunt once while serving his internship.

[Waldo Stimson]

Dr. Dingle Spieler.

[Barry Craig]

A nice little guy who kept his.

[Waldo Stimson]

Beard buttoned in his vest.

[Barry Craig]

You.

[Waldo Stimson]

You say he has been to doctors? 6.

[Barry Craig]

He's run the gamut from cardiography to psychoanalysis.

[Waldo Stimson]

It is very strange that there was no recommended therapy. This ontology seems to be clear.

[Barry Craig]

Meaning?

[Waldo Stimson]

The disorientation, the damage to the nervous system.

[Barry Craig]

Talk to me in English, not Greek.

[Waldo Stimson]

Either the man has a detectable nervous disorder or he is in a psychosis.

[Barry Craig]

As simple as that. I mean, medically speaking. A good physician should see what bothers Richie Stimson by eye. A head doctor could do it by ears.

[Waldo Stimson]

Yeah, that's right.

[Barry Craig]

Absolutely. Apple pie for a doctor to diagnose.

[Waldo Stimson]

Now, look, apple pie is for the cook and the kitchen.

[Barry Craig]

Okay, then say easy to diagnose.

[Waldo Stimson]

There is perhaps one simple conclusion to come to. Speaking for the doctors, I mean. And that is that your friend had none of these symptoms you have described at precisely those times. When. When the doctors examined him.

[Barry Craig]

Had none of the symptoms at the time of examination. I'll need time to figure that one out, Doc. Tell me, which branch of medicine is more apt to be mistaken?

[Waldo Stimson]

The nerve specialist can be sure.

[Barry Craig]

Meaning? The head doctor has a bigger margin of error.

[Waldo Stimson]

Well, psychic sickness is a. Is a more experimental medicine. It is, well, shall we say, in a stage of development.

[Barry Craig]

Richie Stimson is in a stage of disintegration. Well, thanks for your time, Doc. If I said I wasn't twice as confused as when I came in, I'd be lying. Well, so long. I trotted myself over to 10th Avenue for a peek into Richie Stimson's background. A look into his case history, as the science books put it. I figured on a chat with his folks, if he had any, or his neighborhood priest. But I found a brother. The lettering on the window of the fish store read Waldo Stimson.

[Waldo Stimson]

Fresh fish.

[Barry Craig]

I found Waldo in a bloody apron chopping away at a sea monster that looked like barracuda. Now stop chopping and let's talk about your brother Richie.

[Waldo Stimson]

Richie. I got one word that ends a conversation and the word snob. He's been high hatting, you fox, that snazzy car. If he's in front of my fish store and sits behind a wheel smoking a cigar, the Laus just sits out there rubbing it in.

[Barry Craig]

Rubbing what in?

[Waldo Stimson]

The butts. Now he's Got him and I ain't?

[Barry Craig]

Oh, answer a question or two for me, huh?

[Waldo Stimson]

Shoot.

[Barry Craig]

Was Richie physically fit?

[Waldo Stimson]

Strong as a bull. You should have seen how he broke Dobie Delahanny's jaw. Bang. One sock.

[Barry Craig]

Was he subject to headaches and accidents?

[Waldo Stimson]

I don't get you.

[Barry Craig]

Did he ever fall over his own feet? Fall down the stairs, Walk into a plate glass window?

[Waldo Stimson]

Let's see. Not on your life, bub. Kenneth moving around with 200%. Champ basketball player and ice hockey. Why? The bros were hustling to sign a contract then.

[Barry Craig]

Generally well coordinated, sharp eyesight and the rest of it.

[Waldo Stimson]

Sharp eyesight? You saw the chick he grabbed off himself?

[Barry Craig]

Yeah, upper class, Natalie. Well, tell me, how do you figure he swung that well?

[Waldo Stimson]

They come to making out Richie was a conniver, there wasn't a day he didn't have a scheme going for himself.

[Barry Craig]

Shady or strictly legit?

[Waldo Stimson]

Both ways, depending. Any way Richie could better himself, boy, that was it. Hey, look, you're thinking of my time. I got fish to sell.

[Barry Craig]

You got a three pound Siberian herring.

[Waldo Stimson]

Siberian herring, huh? What do you know, I'm fresh out of them.

[Barry Craig]

That led me to the father in.

[Waldo Stimson]

Law, C. Lindsay Bernard Broker.

[Barry Craig]

I wanted to know how come the uppercase Bernard sanctioned his daughter's marriage to the family chauffeur. I found Bernard senior behind a mahogany desk the size of a tennis court. The cigar in his mouth almost reached.

[Waldo Stimson]

Out into the hall to the elevator. Yes, your question, Craig has definite point. But not with me.

[Barry Craig]

Why not?

[Waldo Stimson]

There is no snobbery in the veins of C. Lindsay Barnard. Not a drop of it, sir. We're a tribe of great commoners. Why my father cleaned sewers and his father sold pots and pans along the great American highway.

[Barry Craig]

Then you approved of Richie Stinson?

[Waldo Stimson]

Oh, heartily, sir. You might say I cheered him up that middle aisle to the marriage altar. I favored Ritchie over Byron Follin's men.

[Barry Craig]

Yes sir.

[Waldo Stimson]

A red blooded young man like Richie. Why I abetted his cause with Natalie. I am against the rich. Inbreeding with the rich.

[Barry Craig]

Very bad for progeny.

[Waldo Stimson]

Transmits white blood cells. Offsprings are anemic.

[Barry Craig]

Cut. My ears are bent. While we're on this high level talk, a quotation comes to my head. Something we used to recite in school.

[Waldo Stimson]

Mr. Bernard from Shakespeare. Oh, always a pleasure to hear Shakespeare quoted the quotations, huh? Methinks you plead too hard. Is that a sneer at my veracity?

[Barry Craig]

It could be.

[Waldo Stimson]

Why you foul mouthed low born peasant.

[Barry Craig]

And a minute ago you were the.

[Waldo Stimson]

Guy advertising himself as the great commoner.

[Barry Craig]

From Bernard Sr. S office, I drove back to Park Avenue to resume with Richie Stimson. We had big plans for the evening. A repeat of the night before. The night before the Crescent Burlesque over.

[Waldo Stimson]

In Hoboken.

[Barry Craig]

At 472 and a half Park Avenue. I found Ritchie already downstairs on the street, on the sidewalk, a few feet away from the big front door, canopy top, hat on him and tails, as if he couldn't wait to get going to Hoboken. Only thing, he was the last guy I'd want to be seen out with. Not the condition he was in. Flat on his back with a seepage of blood dyeing his clothes red. A crowd of morbid gapers packed around him and an ambulance on its way to the scene. No, sir, no date. I couldn't see myself watching a girly.

[Waldo Stimson]

Show with a corpse.

[Barry Craig]

One byproduct of death you can be absolutely sure of is a widow's tears.

[Susie]

Richie.

[Barry Craig]

And Natalie sure wept Tears cascading down her until the little chiffon item she was wearing clung to her like.

[Waldo Stimson]

A bathing suit after a dip in the ocean.

[Barry Craig]

Show of grief in a bereaved father in law comes harder.

[Waldo Stimson]

Either it's unmanly to cry or.

[Barry Craig]

See, Lindsay Bernard was a 5 beta.

[Waldo Stimson]

Capper in the art of self control.

[Barry Craig]

The only thing that occurred to him.

[Waldo Stimson]

To do was abuse me. Richie died because of your negligence, Craig.

[Barry Craig]

Your default of duty.

[Waldo Stimson]

You weren't hired to gad about making ridiculous inquiries. You had explicit duties. You were paid to stay with Richie.

[Barry Craig]

Never let him out of your sight. Guy is slated to walk off an outside terrace 18 stories up. Comes the time when he does it, there's only one chap really watching him 24 hours a day.

[Waldo Stimson]

One chapter, the angel of Death.

[Barry Craig]

A brother of the deceased can usually muster a tear or two.

[Waldo Stimson]

Poor kid.

[Barry Craig]

Death softened you toward your brother Richie, huh?

[Waldo Stimson]

Yeah. Yeah, I ain't got no hard feelings. Now, who she set up like this here? Look at them drapes. And that chandelier. Imagine walking out on it.

[Barry Craig]

Walking off a terrace into space 18 stories over the sidewalk.

[Waldo Stimson]

Yeah, what a way to go.

[Barry Craig]

You're a beautifully coordinated brother. A kid with sharp eyesight and trained reflexes.

[Waldo Stimson]

Oh, oh, about that. No, I didn't exactly feature the right dope on Richard. That time we talked, I. Well, I sort of left something out. You did? Yeah. You know, something that came back to mind. You see, Richie was a big one for accidents all the time falling down cellars or fire escapes. And. And your pains here. Here and ahead. Always with a. With a wet towel and the ice pack on his beam. You get me, huh? Better than you think, Waldo.

[Barry Craig]

Tell me something. What? Who's paying you to lie to me? And how much are you getting?

[Waldo Stimson]

Well, suppose I am in the way of a few bucks, no harm to nobody. Why should I pass it up?

[Barry Craig]

Because your brother was set up to accidentally kill himself or be murdered.

[Waldo Stimson]

Murdered? Now, how could that be?

[Barry Craig]

Say, a push off that terrace?

[Waldo Stimson]

But you don't know that. No, I don't.

[Barry Craig]

But pushed or fell, either way, it's murder.

[Waldo Stimson]

But he'd been dopey all the time, tripping over his own feet. You yourself told me that.

[Barry Craig]

Yeah, dopey and so forth.

[Waldo Stimson]

And I've got an explanation for that. What? Drugs.

[Barry Craig]

Somebody's been feeding Richie drugs in his.

[Waldo Stimson]

Drink and in his food.

[Barry Craig]

Drugs that work havoc on his reflexes.

[Waldo Stimson]

For a time, then dissipate into the.

[Barry Craig]

Bloodstream so that he seems okay during medical examinations.

[Waldo Stimson]

Yeah, but he who be feeding them drugs?

[Barry Craig]

Who offered you a bribe to suddenly.

[Waldo Stimson]

Remember that Richie was accident prone? Who of them did? Natalie and her old men? I only got a piece of the truth from Natalie.

[Myra Wilson]

I didn't marry Richie.

[Barry Craig]

He married me. What was the blackmail threat that got you to say yes?

[Susie]

Is my father chauffeur?

[Barry Craig]

He got something on your father? Some business irregularity your father could be liable to prosecution for, Is that it?

[Waldo Stimson]

Okay, clam up. Pending advice as counsel, I'm content to.

[Barry Craig]

Let the whole story wait on the autopsy.

[Myra Wilson]

The autopsy?

[Barry Craig]

The one I'm ordering to be done.

[Waldo Stimson]

Immediately to determine the nature of the.

[Barry Craig]

Drug that got Richie drowsy and dopey.

[Waldo Stimson]

Enough to walk off that terrace into cold space. This one hasn't had time yet to.

[Barry Craig]

Really dissipate into the bloodstream.

[Waldo Stimson]

Beautiful, I would say. Never hire you.

[Barry Craig]

People are all the time hiring me.

[Waldo Stimson]

As a cover for their cute operations. I can be hired, baby, but not bought. Hired, but not bought.

[Barry Craig]

I'm sure you understand the difference.

[Waldo Stimson]

You've been to college.

[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, angel of Death, was written by John Robert. Next week, it's the strange story of the man who Died by Himself, about which Barry Craig has this to say. We call next week's story the man who Died By Himself. Among other things and corpses. It deals with a fortune teller, a fortune and a beautiful girl. And, of course, the man who Died By Himself. Except he wasn't entirely alone.

[Waldo Stimson]

He had a killer for company.

[Narrator]

The National Broadcasting Company has just brought you an NBC Radio Network production with William Gargan starring as Barry Craig, Confidential Investigator. Directed by Arthur Jacobson. Cast included Paul Duboff, Betty Lou Gerson, Jack Carroll and Jack Moyles. This is John Lang speaking. Join Groucho Marx for you bet your Life. Tonight on the NBC Radio Network.

[Waldo Stimson]

William.

[Narrator]

Gargan stars as Barry Craig, confidential Investigator.

[Barry Craig]

One nice thing about being a murderer. You don't have to worry about being included in the old age pension fund. You're not going to have an old age.

[Narrator]

A 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. I was drinking myself today. This particular evening. Not liquor. At Willie's wagon. It's the coffee that's fatal. Also, I was finding out from the newspapers that chorus girls were still busy suing elderly millionaires. That a hood named Ben Moran had knocked off an armored car and disappeared. That the police were questioning his girlfriend, Penny Lane. Her picture was spread across the front page. It wasn't art, but it would sell a lot of papers. Also, we were going to have some more weather.

[Waldo Stimson]

That don't surprise me.

[Barry Craig]

That's because you're a cynic, Willie.

[Waldo Stimson]

Do I ask you about your religion?

[Barry Craig]

It was around 10:30 at night. But it looked later for the girl who came into the wagon as though it was the last stop on a trip she hadn't planned on making.

[Myra Wilson]

Excuse me, but can you tell me if there's more than one Hotel Meeker?

[Waldo Stimson]

The only one I know of is around the corner from here. You. You tried a phone book?

[Myra Wilson]

Yes, I did. I. I must be going insane.

[Waldo Stimson]

Hey.

[Barry Craig]

Hey, Mr. Craig, I've got a. She passed out. Yeah.

[Willie]

Take her in the back room.

[Waldo Stimson]

I got the couch there.

[Barry Craig]

That's fine.

[Waldo Stimson]

Hey, sounds like she's coming, too.

[Barry Craig]

Get some coffee for her.

[Waldo Stimson]

Yeah, okay.

[Myra Wilson]

I'm sorry. What about fading? My name is Wilson. Myra Wilson.

[Barry Craig]

I'm Barry Craig. What's bothering you about the Meeker?

[Myra Wilson]

You. You won't believe me.

[Barry Craig]

I'm a confidential investigator. I've got a lot of practice believing people. Clients usually try me.

[Myra Wilson]

Well, my husband and I got to town this afternoon. We took a room at the Hotel Meeker. After lunch, I went shopping and do a movie. Then I went back to the hotel.

[Waldo Stimson]

It.

[Myra Wilson]

It looked the same.

[Barry Craig]

Hotels don't change much in an afternoon.

[Myra Wilson]

But when I asked at the desk for my husband, the clerk said no one by that name was Registered.

[Barry Craig]

The clerk must have remembered you.

[Myra Wilson]

No, he said he'd never seen me before.

[Barry Craig]

It was a nice story. Had shape, surprise, a nightmare touch. The odds were wonderful that it was a pony from the word go. Maybe that's why I walked over to the Hotel Mica with Myra Wilson.

[Waldo Stimson]

Good evening, sir.

[Barry Craig]

Mrs. Wilson would like the key to her room.

[Waldo Stimson]

Mrs. Whit. Oh, back again, eh? Mrs. Wilson does not have a room here.

[Barry Craig]

She checked in this morning with her husband.

[Waldo Stimson]

She doesn't have a room here. Neither does her husband. If she has a husband.

[Barry Craig]

I could take you apart without any trouble. Putting you together again might be harder.

[Waldo Stimson]

Look, there's no card for Mr. And Mrs. Wilson. I never saw or heard of Mrs. Wilson before. I've been on duty all day. I ought to know.

[Barry Craig]

Mrs. Wilson, you remember the lobby, the clerk.

[Myra Wilson]

Of course I do.

[Barry Craig]

What was your room number?

[Myra Wilson]

312.

[Barry Craig]

Let's go take a look at it.

[Waldo Stimson]

No, you can't do that.

[Barry Craig]

Why not? Oh, that gun. Standard hotel equipment. Farley, will you?

[Myra Wilson]

Hmm.

[Barry Craig]

What are you doing with that gun?

[Waldo Stimson]

Taking care of this hoodlum, Mr. Roberts.

[Barry Craig]

The hoodlum's name is Craig. This is Mrs. Wilson. You manage the hotel? I do. Farley, put away that gun. Mrs. Wilson, did you see Mr. Roberts this morning?

[Waldo Stimson]

No. Mr. Roberts, this woman claims she registered here this morning with her husband. That's not true.

[Barry Craig]

Evidently a misunderstanding. Although we'd like to go up to a room 3:12 if it's not occupied. I see no reason why you can't. We went upstairs. The clerk folly had been very tough. Mr. Roberts was very smooth. I didn't care deeply for either of them. I started hoping in earnest that Myra Wilson's story was true. Three twelves down the corridor. Mrs. Wilson, would you mind describing the room?

[Myra Wilson]

Well, there was a window over the courtyard. A double bed with a flowered cover. A dark green rug. Wallpaper. Yellow and blue, I think.

[Barry Craig]

Well, that's enough.

[Waldo Stimson]

312.

[Barry Craig]

Well, says so on the door, too. Okay, open up. Well, there's a bed outside of that. Twin beds, not a double. Carpeting is maroon, not green. And the wallpaper, Doc. Brown stripe.

[Myra Wilson]

It's not at all the way I described it. But it is the same room. It must be.

[Barry Craig]

Well, Mr. Craig, sorry to have bothered you. Let's go, Mrs. Wilson. We picked up my car and I started driving home. That gave me a small chance to think. First thought was I'd heard the story before, only that was about a girl in Paris in 1890 or thereabouts. She'd lost A hotel too. Along with her mother. The explanation there was that her mother had died of the plague and the whole thing was hushed up so people wouldn't be scared away from the city. That wouldn't work here. We don't have plagues anymore in New York. Which left what? I didn't know. But I thought it might be fun finding out. Now, this is my house. Here's my key. Go on in and try to get some sleep.

[Myra Wilson]

Where are you going?

[Barry Craig]

Believe it or not, I'm going to a hotel for the night. The hotel was the mica.

[Waldo Stimson]

Oh, you again.

[Barry Craig]

It's coincidence.

[Waldo Stimson]

If you're still hopping on that Wilson.

[Barry Craig]

Business, I'm looking for a room to sleep in.

[Waldo Stimson]

We're all filled up.

[Barry Craig]

What about 3:12?

[Waldo Stimson]

I.

[Barry Craig]

Thanks. I'll take it. Mind showing me to the room?

[Waldo Stimson]

I'm not supposed to.

[Barry Craig]

But you'll do it for me.

[Waldo Stimson]

I'll do it for you.

[Barry Craig]

That is, unless you wanted to check with Mr. Roberts first.

[Waldo Stimson]

He's gone for the night.

[Barry Craig]

Could it be a federal offense?

[Waldo Stimson]

What?

[Barry Craig]

Kidnapping a room?

[Waldo Stimson]

I thought you gave up on that.

[Barry Craig]

Well, that's right too.

[Waldo Stimson]

I forgot your room.

[Barry Craig]

Well, come on in.

[Waldo Stimson]

I don't have any. Hey. Hey, what are you doing?

[Barry Craig]

Well, I'm ripping myself some wallpaper.

[Waldo Stimson]

It's great fun. Now, you cut that out.

[Barry Craig]

And look what I found under this striped wallpaper. More wallpaper. Guess what color. Oh, you don't like to guess. All right. It's blue and yellow wallpaper. The kind Mrs. Wilson described. Funny.

[Waldo Stimson]

You can't do things like.

[Barry Craig]

Like finding out this really was Mrs. Wilson's room. And that someone changed the wallpaper, the bed, the rug while she was out shopping. Only one question. Where's Mr. Wilson? The clerk didn't answer that one or anything else. I left the hotel for a doorway across the street. I put in time in nicer doorways, but this one was okay. It kept me out of sight until a clerk came out of the hotel and started walking. I walked after him. He led me to a dark street filled with discouraged brownstones. He started up the steps. I was maybe 30 yards from him when he opened the door and walked into Bullets. He must have been dead before he fell all up. Bullets had hit him when I got to him. It was only to confirm the obvious. I had news. I needed somebody to tell it to. Roberts was in the phone book. I always track down people that way. Maybe not very smart, but it nearly always works. Yes? Oh, Mr. Craig. Mind if I come in? Well, it's late, but come in. Thanks. Don't go any further.

[Waldo Stimson]

I'm entertaining.

[Barry Craig]

I'm sorry.

[Waldo Stimson]

Hello.

[Barry Craig]

I asked you not to. I said I was sorry. Now I'm not sure. Introduce me. Mr. Craig, Miss. Lane. Penny Lane.

[Myra Wilson]

Penny Lane.

[Barry Craig]

What do you hear from Ben Moran, Ms. Lane?

[Myra Wilson]

Oh, now, you mustn't believe everything you read in the papers.

[Barry Craig]

Oh, it's too bad. You mean he isn't going to give you a hunk of that armored car?

[Myra Wilson]

What would I do with an armored car, Mr. Craig?

[Barry Craig]

I see what you mean. Excuse me. Roberts, Where's Jim Wilson? Who is Jim Wilson? Myra Wilson's husband. Oh, that poor deluded girl. Not deluded. Someone changed the wallpaper in the room. She had. Underneath was the paper she'd described. Oh, I can't imagine why or who would try anyway. Farley's really the one to ask. He's in charge of such things. I asked him. He said he takes orders from you. I'm afraid he's lying, Mr. Craig. Would you like to tell him that I should like nothing better. Because you know he's dead. Mr. Craig, I don't think I have anything further to say to you. Too bad. I was enjoying our little chat. Good night, Mr. Craig.

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