Pat Novak and Jeff Regan

Summary

Case Closed! – Pat Novak and Jeff Regan

January 7, 2026 | RelicRadio.com

Episode Overview

This week’s Case Closed! delivers two hard-boiled detective dramas from the golden age of radio. First, we join Pat Novak for Hire in "Little Jake Siegel" (June 26, 1949), where Novak finds himself embroiled in murder and waterfront intrigue, with a deadly shootout in a San Francisco church and a tangled web of mobsters, family ties, and double-crosses. Next, in Jeff Regan, Investigator’s "A Tree Grows in Encino" (April 5, 1950), Regan is hired by a man determined to prove his own guilt in his wife’s murder, but finds that nothing (and no one) is as it seems beneath the surface of LA’s wealthy suburbs.

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PAT NOVAK FOR HIRE – Little Jake Siegel

(00:52–30:41)

Setting the Scene

• Down-on-his-luck Pat Novak describes working the San Francisco docks: “You’re too busy staying alive to worry about the next guy, unless he’s pointing a gun.”
• Novak receives a late-night call from Father Leahy, an old friend and priest, asking for a small favor.

Key Plot Points & Characters

The Favor and the Shooting

• [02:42] Father Leahy’s request: meet after the rosary to discuss borrowing a boat for an altar boys’ picnic.
• [03:37–05:14] At the church, an altar boy, “Little Jake Siegel,” leads Novak inside. Suddenly, a gunman opens fire in the pews. Novak is nearly hit, and Little Jake is fatally wounded.
  • Quote: Pat Novak: “He went down like young wheat in a hailstorm.” ([05:14])

Aftermath and Guilt

• Father Leahy, devastated, accuses Novak of bringing crime into his church, believing the hit was aimed at Novak but struck a child instead.
  • Quote: Father Leahy: “He stepped in front of a bullet and saved your life. I’ll go ahead—figure it.” ([08:07])
• Novak insists he’s innocent and determines to find the killer.

Novak Becomes a Target

• Novak is attacked at home by three mobsters seeking a “gun and papers.” He’s beaten when he refuses to cooperate.
• Awakening, he finds police lieutenant Hellman investigating a woman's body in his kitchen (“Sally Kimbrough”). Hellman suspects Novak is involved.
  • Quote: Novak: “You both use the same technique. Now show me the warrant before I start charging you rent.” ([12:53])

Hunting the Real Killer

• Novak enlists help from his drunken but brilliant doctor friend, Jocko Madigan, to run down leads on the murder and the east coast mobsters.

Revelations and Confrontations

• Jocko uncovers the connections: Mike Quinlan (paroled ex-con, earlier setup by syndicate boss Sandel), Sally, and the mob.
• Novak interrogates Bobby Quinlan, Mike's sister, at Bayview Towers. She confesses Sandel is at the Durban Arms hotel.
• There is a final showdown at the church steps in thick San Francisco fog. Novak outsmarts Sandel and his gunman, leading to Sandel’s death at Novak’s hands in a violent struggle.
  • Quotes:
    • Novak: “All right, Sandel. Now it’s just you and me in the fog.” ([26:30])
    • Father Leahy (to Novak): “I’ll pray for him, Patsy.” Novak: “Why waste it, Father? He wasn’t worth it.” ([27:45–27:50])

Resolution

• The truth: Quinlan was framed by Sandel in a bank heist, and was murdered to keep him from revealing evidence stored in the church.
• Sally and Bobby are collateral casualties in the criminals’ efforts to keep the past buried.
• Father Leahy remains steadfast but world-weary, Jocko’s exploits play for comic relief, and Novak walks away with nothing but a bruised conscience.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “Roll around in dirt long enough and some of it's bound to stick to you. You got it all over your face and your hands. And it's working inside you, Patsy.” – Father Leahy ([07:48])
• “Dinner without bourbon is life without hope.” – Jocko Madigan ([21:00])
• “When the fog lifted the next morning, things got lots clearer... but then, so were the characters.” – Pat Novak ([28:21])

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JEFF REGAN, INVESTIGATOR – A Tree Grows in Encino

(31:22–59:49)

Premise & Setup

• Regan is hired by Jonathan McMurray, a proud and self-confessed “murderer,” to prove McMurray killed his wife three years ago—since the police won’t believe his story.
  • Quote: McMurray: “I want you to prove I am guilty of murder.” ([33:00])
• McMurray details a domestic shooting gone wrong (mistaking his wife for a burglar).
• Strangely, two witnesses claim to have seen the supposed deceased, Lois McMurray, leave for South America the day after the “murder.”

Investigation: Twists and Characters

The Detectives and the Redhead

• Regan speaks to Lt. Candid, who won’t arrest McMurray without a body (“corpus delicti”).
• Regan investigates Whitmore, a florid interior decorator, his fiery redheaded wife Claire, and their mysterious insistence on moving a grove of orange trees that was planted three years ago—the same time Lois vanished.

The Orange Tree Motif

• Orange trees become symbolic: “Trees belong certain places [...] They’ve been there for three years and they’ve stayed there.” ([41:02])
• Claire’s evasiveness raises suspicions that something is buried under those trees.

Murder and Revelations

• Regan finds McMurray shot dead in Claire’s living room; Claire insists it was self-defense.
• Lt. Candid’s men start digging up the orange trees for a possible body—but find only dirt.
• Regan presses for more info and learns, via his boss Anthony J. Lyon, that Lois has no immediate family and no one knows her current whereabouts.

The Final Twist

• The redheaded Claire is revealed to be Lois McMurray, living under a new identity. She faked her death to escape her tyrannical, self-righteous husband and marry Whitmore, her lover.
  • Quote: “You forgot about being Lois McMurray.” – Regan ([57:17])
• The plot: three years prior, Lois and Whitmore staged a fake burglary; Jonathan shot at Lois not knowing she was pretending to be a burglar. Believing her dead, he fled, and Lois assumed a new identity, marrying Whitmore.
• Driven by martyrdom, Jonathan returns, murders Whitmore, attempts to kill Lois/Claire, and is killed himself.

Conclusion

• Lois is taken in but cannot be charged with murder. Lt. Candid is left dissatisfied, and Regan’s agency never gets paid (McMurray’s check never materializes).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You dyed your hair red, no relatives to identify you. You forgot about being Lois McMurray.” – Jeff Regan ([57:17])
• “It was self-defense. I shot him in self-defense.” – Claire/Lois ([47:19])
• “Redheads and oranges, Regan. I think I’m going to dig for oranges.” – Lt. Candid ([49:39])
• Comic capstone: The case “wraps up” but the client’s check never clears—detective work’s harshest reality.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Pat Novak for Hire:
  • Intro and call from Father Leahy: [00:52–03:23]
  • Shooting at the church: [03:41–05:14]
  • Attack in Novak’s apartment: [09:54–11:27]
  • Confrontation and case resolution: [25:11–28:21]
• Jeff Regan, Investigator:
  • McMurray’s initial confession: [32:36–34:14]
  • Visit to Whitmore and Claire: [38:28–45:04]
  • Discovery of double identity and case wrap-up: [54:44–57:20]
  • Case not getting paid: [58:22–59:27]

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Tone & Style

Both stories bristle with clipped, cynical, first-person narration laced with period slang and world-weary wit. Dark humor and tragic irony are ever-present, even at their most hard-boiled or emotional moments.

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Summary

If you missed this episode, you missed a perfect pairing of OTR detective fiction:

• Pat Novak for Hire serves up urban noir where innocence is collateral damage in a mobster’s cruel world.
• Jeff Regan, Investigator brings a sharp, sardonic view of LA’s upper crust, where ambition, deceit, and reinvention breed murder—and justice is just a rumor.

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Memorable Moments at a Glance

• Church gunfight and the tragedy of Little Jake ([03:41–08:07])
• “Dinner without bourbon is life without hope.” (Jocko, [21:00])
• “Redheads and oranges, Regan. I think I’m going to dig for oranges.” (Candid, [49:39])
• Stunning reveal: The redhead is the missing woman ([57:17])

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For Fans Of

Classic noir, fast-talking detectives, OTR ambiance, and stories with moral complexity and a dash of dry humor bordering on cynicism.

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Listen to more classic radio at RelicRadio.com

Transcript

[Pat Novak]

Foreign.

[Case Closed Host]

This is Case Closed Crime stories from the Golden Age of Radio. Welcome back to Case Closed, your weekly hour of mystery and crime from the golden age of radio every [e-mail] if you'd like to help support this show, visit donate.Relicradio.com or click on that support link in the show notes. Thanks to those who have helped out. Thanks for joining me this week. We begin with Pat Novak for Hire story titled Little Jake Siegel from June 26, 1949. After that, it's Jeff Regan, investigator and a Tree Grows in Encino. His story from April 5, 1950.

[Pat Novak]

Pat Novak for hire. Sure, I'm pat novak for hire. That's what the sign outside my office says, Pat Novak for Hire. Or you can set it to music or put it up in neon, but down here on the waterfront in San Francisco, you're too busy staying alive to worry about the next guy unless he's pointing a gun. Most of the time you got as much chance as a flypapered fly on his solo flight. But it works out. Oh, I rent boats and do anything else to keep my stomach and my conscience running even. It's like juggling hot marbles on a high wire. But it's a living. And you haven't any more kick coming than a swimmer diving into an empty pool. I found that out last Tuesday night. I was sitting in my office after dinner watching the fog stream through the gate and wrap up the bay for the night. Up on Russian Hill, the lights were just going on in the thousand dollar a month apartments, and right away you got a picture of warm rooms and cold martinis. I guess I was feeling sorry for myself. So I started to page through an old address book full of bad debts and tired memories. I was getting older by the page, and the regrets were piling up around my knees when the phone rang. Novak talking.

[Father Leahy]

This is Father Leahy, Patsy. Are you busy?

[Pat Novak]

Yeah, Father. Tearing up old phone numbers.

[Father Leahy]

Are you reforming or angry?

[Pat Novak]

Neither one, Father. I just wore out.

[Father Leahy]

You sound sad, Patsy. Expect them to last forever?

[Pat Novak]

Nothing's that good. What's on your mind?

[Father Leahy]

I want to ask you a favor.

[Pat Novak]

Make it a small one, Father. I'm all out of big ones.

[Father Leahy]

It's a small one, Patsy.

[Pat Novak]

For you. Yeah. Another customer told me the same thing, Father. His brother was on the way to the chair. He wanted me to smuggle in some rubber underwear.

[Father Leahy]

I'm asking, Patsy, not begging.

[Pat Novak]

Okay, Father, what do you need?

[Father Leahy]

Can you see me in about an hour? Right after the evening rosary?

[Pat Novak]

When's it over.

[Father Leahy]

Oh, about 8:30. But don't be afraid of coming early.

[Pat Novak]

No, I'll take a rain check on that, Father.

[Father Leahy]

That's what Noah's friends used to say. I'll see you at 8:30.

[Pat Novak]

It was a little before 8:30 when I started up the steps of Father Leahy's parish church. I figured the services were over, so I hung around in the vestibule for a couple of minutes trying to look like a part time bell ringer. The last few people straggled out. Then an alder boy came out and gave me the high sign. He was a clean Irish looking little kid with a face the size of a minute and just about as young.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Are you Mr. Novak, sir?

[Pat Novak]

That's right. You the lookout?

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

I'm an Alder boy, Mr. Novak. My name's Jake Seagull. Little Jake, Father calls me.

[Pat Novak]

Yeah, well, where's Father, Lady? Now, Jake, he's back in the.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Mr. Novak. He wants you to wait inside here.

[Pat Novak]

No, this will do. I'll wait right here.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

No, sir, Mr. Novak, I'm sorry. Father says to be sure and bring you inside.

[Pat Novak]

Okay, Little Jake, lead the way.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

This way, Mr. Novak. Down this aisle.

[Pat Novak]

I guess I was too busy trying to act like I knew my way around to pay much attention to a fat, chunky little guy. When he stood up in the back pew a couple of miles over, Little Jake seemed to pay. Trouble in the air, Mr. Novak.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

That man back there. What's he doing?

[Father Leahy]

All right, Quinlan, here's your payoff. Turn around and take it.

[Pat Novak]

Jake.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Get on, Mr. Novak. Look out.

[Father Leahy]

Look out.

[Pat Novak]

Down on the waterfront. You'll learn early to look for trouble any place, anytime you can find it. At the top of the mark or at the bottom of the bay. This is the first time it caught up with me in the middle of a church. The lead got as thick as confetti on New Year's Eve. I spun around and I made a dive for Little Jake, but I wasn't. Soon enough, he went down like young wheat in a hailstorm. When I grabbed for him, I must have hit my head in the base of a marble pillar or something. And things got dark for a minute. I stumbled down the aisle and into the street after the guy, but the odds were all on his side. The fog was so thick you couldn't read a newspaper with a klieg light. I guess I covered every alley and street in the neighborhood, but it was like running after a hat full of feathers in the middle of a windstorm. Oh, I don't know how Much later, it was when I stopped for a minute in an empty doorway. And I tried to remember what I was chasing. A siren was crying somewhere in the distance. So I started back for the church. The coroner's wagon was just pulling away. When I got there, Father Leahy had disappeared. I saw a light in the rectory, so I went upstairs and rang the bell. He came to the door in his shirt sleeves. He just stood there for a minute, looking at me. Then he motioned me inside. You want to see me, Father? Yes.

[Jeff Regan]

In here.

[Father Leahy]

So, Don the Kid, Father.

[Pat Novak]

Little Jake.

[Father Leahy]

What do you think?

[Pat Novak]

Yeah, they go fast.

[Father Leahy]

Instantly.

[Pat Novak]

I'll get the guy, Father.

[Father Leahy]

I'm not asking that, Patsy. I'm not asking you for anything anymore. Unless I need trouble.

[Pat Novak]

No. Somebody told you a bad story, Father. That wasn't my gun.

[Father Leahy]

I should have known better than to call you. I should have known it meant trouble. It's your middle name, Patsy. You're married to it.

[Pat Novak]

You're looking at the wrong man. It wasn't my party.

[Father Leahy]

I called you here tonight to ask you a favor, Patsy.

[Pat Novak]

Anything you want, Potter.

[Father Leahy]

It's too late now. We were going to have an altar boys picnic tomorrow at Paradise Cove. I wanted to borrow one of your boats. We won't be going now, Patsy. We've got a funeral instead.

[Pat Novak]

Yeah? What do you want me to say?

[Father Leahy]

Don't say anything, Patsy. Just listen for a minute. I asked you to come up here tonight, but I didn't tell you to bring your friends. If you got any private fights with those waterfront hoods, that's your business. But don't bring your beefs into the church.

[Pat Novak]

And I tell you I never saw the guy before. I don't know anything about it.

[Father Leahy]

He was shooting at you when he hit Little Jake, wasn't he? What else am I supposed to think?

[Pat Novak]

They find the murder gun?

[Father Leahy]

Nothing.

[Pat Novak]

Your playmates are neat, Patsy. I liked you better without the temper, Father.

[Father Leahy]

And I liked you better before your hands got dirty, Patsy. I warned you about that waterfront crowd. The cheap thugs, the cheap women. I told you, Patsy. Roll around in dirt long enough and some of it's bound to stick to you. You got it all over your face and your hands. And it's working inside you, Patsy. It's working in deep.

[Pat Novak]

At the end of the sermon, Father.

[Father Leahy]

I tried to warn you, but you had it figured. We'll figure this one, Patsy. There's a nine year old kid on his way to the morgue. He stepped in front of a bullet and saved your life. I'll go ahead figure It.

[Pat Novak]

Yeah, I will, Father. But you better be on call when I catch up with the guy. He's gonna have a lot of praying to do. When I left Father Leahy, I checked in at the church for one more look around. A couple of red faced Irish cops in uniform were wandering around the vestibule trying to look at home and chewing gum like mad to kill the beer on their breath. And over in one corner, half a dozen old women had their heads together, clucking like hands over a square egg. Outside of them, the place was deserted. I gave the course a quick rundown. Couple of aisles over where I figured the guns will must have passed, I picked up a matchbook. The ad on the front said Max Joint, Cicero, Illinois. And there was a phone number scrawled inside the COVID I was just about ready to toss it away when a bell rang and I took a closer look. Was my phone number. I put the matchbook in my pocket and I started home for the apartment. Maybe the cab wasn't going fast enough because halfway there three years stock of headache caught up with me and the ceiling started to jump. The cab driver was kind, though. When we got to my place, he offered to help me as far as the curb for an extra 4 bits. By the time I made it to my front door, I was feeling lower than n man at an Irish weight. The reception committee didn't help much. They were short and dark, all three of them, with rolls of loose, oily fat where their neck should have been and small pig eyes that squinted through the cigar smoke rolling out of wide nostrils and up their faces.

[Father Leahy]

I ain't Novak.

[Pat Novak]

How do you feel? Lots better after you find the door.

[Father Leahy]

Hey, Dex, Novak don't like us. He'll cultivate a taste.

[Pat Novak]

No, they don't build stomachs that strong. Be nice.

[Father Leahy]

It's easier that way.

[Pat Novak]

Now look, buster, I don't know who you three pigs are.

[Father Leahy]

Novak, remember, be nice.

[Pat Novak]

Yeah, I'll remember.

[Father Leahy]

You west coast punks are all alike, Novak. Couple of taps and you cry. Ain't that right, Lud? Maybe Novak's tired. Fellas, help him into a chair.

[Pat Novak]

Yeah, Novak, sit down.

[Father Leahy]

Lud wants to say something.

[Pat Novak]

All right, then say it and get out of here.

[Father Leahy]

We want the gun, Novak.

[Pat Novak]

We want the papers that go with it. Sounds like a great puzzle. Sorry I can't help with the answer.

[Father Leahy]

You better tell Lud Novak it's liable to get rough.

[Pat Novak]

All right. My gun's over there on the desk and the paper's on the wall.

[Father Leahy]

Be nice, Novak. Just once more Novak, where's the gun and where's the papers?

[Pat Novak]

Look, I'll spell it for you. I don't know what you're talking about.

[Father Leahy]

All right, Dex, Mack, get his arm.

[Pat Novak]

All right, hold his head up.

[Father Leahy]

Yeah. Okay, Lud. There.

[Pat Novak]

This the way they do it in Cicero last time round?

[Father Leahy]

Novak, the gun and the papers, where are they?

[Pat Novak]

I don't know.

[Father Leahy]

The gun, Novak. The papers. No use, boss.

[Pat Novak]

We lost him. All right.

[Father Leahy]

It's a big flaw.

[Pat Novak]

Let him find his own way back. Well, it was a long night for summer. When I woke up, the sun was bleeding through a rip in the blinds. And there was a funny smell in the room. My stomach felt like a piece of practice rope at a Boy Scout class. Then the room got noisy.

[Father Leahy]

Wake up slow, Novak. Have a hard night?

[Pat Novak]

You're never on time for the party, are you, Hellman?

[Father Leahy]

I'm choosy, Novak. I don't like your friends.

[Pat Novak]

All right, then take up social work. What's the occasion?

[Father Leahy]

I got a phone tip when I drop up for a visit.

[Pat Novak]

Having fun? Yeah.

[Father Leahy]

There's a gal in the kitchen. Bored to death, huh? Take a look. She took it hard.

[Pat Novak]

Who is she?

[Father Leahy]

Sally Timbro. That's what her driver's license.

[Pat Novak]

Is.

[Father Leahy]

She a friend of yours?

[Pat Novak]

How would I know? Even her mother couldn't tell.

[Father Leahy]

Messed up, isn't she, Novak? Must have been a rough party.

[Pat Novak]

I wouldn't know, Hellman.

[Father Leahy]

I closed early at your joint.

[Pat Novak]

What happened? I said I closed early. Three Gunsles were drinking my scotch when I got home about 10:30. They were anxious about a gun and some papers and they figured I could put them straight. I couldn't, so they laid me out. Now tell me how sorry you are.

[Father Leahy]

I bleed for you, Novak.

[Pat Novak]

Now, let's have it straight. It's as straight as you're gonna get it, Hellman. If it's not exciting enough, try Esquire.

[Father Leahy]

You talk brave for a punk in hot water.

[Pat Novak]

I'm not gonna scream till it burns.

[Father Leahy]

Then you better start practicing, Novak, because I'm gonna burn you.

[Pat Novak]

You better hurry, Hellman. Your pension's catching up with you.

[Father Leahy]

Watch your mouth, Novak. You're not talking to your guns. Old friends?

[Pat Novak]

Well, that's hard to tell, Hellman. You both use the same technique. Now show me the warrant before I start charging your rent.

[Father Leahy]

That dame's body is all the warrant I need, Novak. Now talk.

[Pat Novak]

How did you get so dead? I told you once. Pick up the three guns and ask.

[Father Leahy]

Them what they look like.

[Pat Novak]

Like you. A size smaller. They're from the east around Chicago.

[Father Leahy]

What else?

[Pat Novak]

They wouldn't leave their birth certificate.

[Father Leahy]

Go ahead, smart boy. Get in all the laughs you can, but don't ask me to con the.

[Pat Novak]

Parole board for you. Oh, I don't know, Hellman. You won't be there. Maybe I'll like prison life. When you're knee deep in the rain and your boots spring a leak, you might as well throw them away and take your chances. Baref, Hellman and his boys left with the body and I grabbed a handful of aspirin in a cold shower. Then I started out to look for the only honest guy I know. An ex doctor and a boozer by the name of Jocko Madigan. A pretty smart man until he found out you can poison your worries at $4 a fifth. I finally found him sitting in the middle of a bourbon fog in a little Spanish joint somewhere on the edge of the Excelsior district. He was down at the end of the bar, trying his best to make time with a plaster bust of Queen Isabella.

[Father Leahy]

Patsy, you're just in time for a short one. Bartender, hand me that page.

[Pat Novak]

Come on, Jocko, sober up. I gotta talk to you.

[Father Leahy]

Patsy, here's to your own peculiar brand of happiness.

[Pat Novak]

Jocko, will you cut it out?

[Father Leahy]

Patsy, I don't mean to be rude or ungentlemanly, but I don't think I altogether approve of the clientele in this place. Yeah. Shh. This woman next to me, Patsy, the one with the stony gaze. She's been here ever since I came in. And I. I don't mean to be uncharitable, but I think she's the picture of a perfect boy.

[Pat Novak]

All right, all right, Patsy.

[Father Leahy]

To a member of the old Castilian school, there can be no excuse for the conduct she's exhibited. Why, do you know I was even good enough to buy her three rounds of Portuguese brandy. Imported, mind you. But what do I get for my pains? Not even a Sibyl. Thank you.

[Pat Novak]

All right, Jocko.

[Father Leahy]

I've been sitting here in the most gentlemanly way, sipping this delicate nectar in great mouthfuls and trying to keep the party. But does she help? No. I've talked to her about politics, medicine, literature, Keats, Byron, Shelley, Nick, Kenny. I even talked about the weather. Chuck.

[Pat Novak]

Oh, she's a statue.

[Father Leahy]

She's. Oh. A simple oversight, Patsy. Might happen to anyone.

[Pat Novak]

Listen a minute, will you? I'm in trouble.

[Father Leahy]

You're always in trouble, Patsy, and that's the way you'll stay till you find some kind of moral rudder. You've got to find direction Instead of trying to be so righteous in an evil sort of way, get in tune with our decaying civilization. Like me, Patsy, why tempt the fates? It's much more practical to buy off your destiny with a good fifth of Irish whiskey.

[Pat Novak]

You all through, Jocko?

[Father Leahy]

Yes. What kind of trouble this time?

[Pat Novak]

Three gunsels from the east. They're shooting up the town and I'm running front for their murder raps.

[Father Leahy]

Patsy, why not plead guilty? The rest might do you good.

[Pat Novak]

Somebody shot a nine year old kid, an Alder boy.

[Father Leahy]

Oh, where did that happen?

[Pat Novak]

In Father Leahy's church. The gunsil took me for somebody else and started shooting.

[Father Leahy]

Problems getting bigger, Patsy, what am I supposed to do?

[Pat Novak]

I want you to check on a guy by the name of Mike Quinlan. Also a girl. Sally Kimbrough. Tagged by the examiner and the Chronicle Morgues and nose around the horse parlors out on Eddy Street. Will you find out everything you can?

[Father Leahy]

Well, all right, Patsy, but you've broken up a beautiful party. You've disillusioned me about Queen Isabella here and I've suddenly grown dreadfully thirsty again. Let's have four or five for the road, shall we?

[Pat Novak]

Later, Jocko, we haven't got time.

[Father Leahy]

Well, only if you say so, Patsy. But every time I leave the hallowed confines of a bar room, I'm a poor pilgrim caught up in the vices of the crass everyday world. A tattered orphan leaning disconsolately against the bitter winds of chance. Tossed and buff about endlessly by the cruel storms of fortune. By the way, I'll need coffee.

[Pat Novak]

All right. Here, half a buck.

[Father Leahy]

But, Patsy, refreshment later.

[Pat Novak]

Now get going, will you?

[Father Leahy]

Jocko, where can I find you?

[Pat Novak]

I'm gonna check by my office and I'm gonna see Father Leahy.

[Father Leahy]

Well, as soon as he mentions taking the pledge, that's your cue to leave. Good night.

[Pat Novak]

When I left, Jocko, I caught a cab downtown. And on the way I started hunting for just a piece of the answer. But all I got was questions. Who were the three gunsels and what was the stuff they were after? Mike Quinlan. Where did he fit in? And that dead girl in my apartment, who did she belong to? Well, the zeros were piling up faster than flies on donuts when the cab pulled up for a stop sign at 16th admission. And a little guy with a worried mouth and a loud sports shirt jumped in. His lips were wound around a phony kind of smile like a head waiter just before he hands you the check for a big party.

[Father Leahy]

It's okay, driver. We're friends.

[Pat Novak]

How are you, Patsy? Friendship comes easy for you, mister. You got a name?

[Father Leahy]

This is for keeps, Novak.

[Pat Novak]

I want to talk. You got until the next corner.

[Father Leahy]

We both mean it, Novak. Me and the gun.

[Pat Novak]

Now, look, Junior, if you want to play the heavy, go find a melodrama.

[Father Leahy]

Who you working for? Sandel.

[Pat Novak]

That's as good a name as any. All right, here's your corner.

[Father Leahy]

Sally Kimbrough. Where is she, Novak?

[Pat Novak]

You're fast with a question, mister. Let me ask you one. Who's Sandell?

[Father Leahy]

I got the gun, Novak.

[Pat Novak]

Yeah? Well, who's Sandell? I'll do the asking.

[Father Leahy]

You sit there, make the answers.

[Pat Novak]

You're running out of tickets, Junior. Come here. All right, now reach down for that gun and I'll jam you through the floorboards. Who's Sandell? It's a Chicago hood. He's out to get me.

[Father Leahy]

It works both ways.

[Pat Novak]

That's a good plot. Now, who are you?

[Father Leahy]

Mike Quinlan. All right, now, what about Sally Kimbrough?

[Pat Novak]

They mopped her up off my kitchen floor this morning. Somebody's gonna get Sandel. Maybe we're on the same train. What's he look like?

[Father Leahy]

Fat men all look alike.

[Pat Novak]

All right, you can leave anytime now. Sure, Novak.

[Father Leahy]

Affair's getting high.

[Pat Novak]

See you later. Well, the whole thing went faster than a Mexican. The black sedan pounded by on all 12 and Quinlan folded up like a playpen and a high wind. We tried to follow the car, but it would have been easier to win the Kentucky Derby on a pogo stick. So I went back to the corner where Quinlan was still hugging the cement. He was draped over the curb like a tired carpet. And if his suit was a brighter yellow, he could have passed for a loading zone. Hellman was there with all his relatives in uniform. So I told the cabbie to drive on. I just couldn't seem to shake the picture a little. Jake, when he went quiet in that church. Well, when I got close to a phone, I paid off the cabbie and I put in a call to Jocko. I called Newton at the examiner morgue and he said that Jocko had just left. So I called Breen's. I asked for the guy who was drinking the cheapest whiskey in the tallest glass.

[Father Leahy]

Jocko Madigan speaking.

[Pat Novak]

There's Novak. How'd you make out?

[Father Leahy]

Let me tell you about this pack of newspaper. Men down here, men of high birth, had true breeding. They like scotch almost as much as I do.

[Pat Novak]

What'd you find out about Quinlan?

[Father Leahy]

My Eddie street informants tag him as an ex con patsy Sent up for armed robbery in 1940 and paroled about two weeks ago from Joliet. Quinlan had a few dealings with a man named Lut Sandel. From what I can gather, Quinlan supposed to have taken the rap with Sandel and his brother.

[Pat Novak]

What else?

[Father Leahy]

Quinlan is a local boy out of Bernal Heights. He has a sister, Patsy. She belongs to Sandel. She's probably the only sales girl in town with a six room apartment in the best part of the marina.

[Pat Novak]

Did you get the address?

[Father Leahy]

Bayview Towers, down at the foot of Fillmore Street.

[Pat Novak]

Sounds good.

[Father Leahy]

Maybe she has a friend.

[Pat Novak]

Did you get anything else on Sandel?

[Father Leahy]

The 3rd street set tells me he's out here to set up a slot machine route. I gather he's the pushy type.

[Pat Novak]

Thanks, Jocko. I'll see you at the apartment.

[Father Leahy]

Oh, Patsy, on your way home, pick up something for dinner at the delicatessen, will you?

[Pat Novak]

There's stuff in the ice box. Fix yourself a sandwich, Patsy.

[Father Leahy]

Dinner without bourbon is life without hope. I'll borrow from the neighbors. Good night, lover.

[Pat Novak]

When I hung up, I caught a D car out on Van Ness Avenue and I headed down into the marina. The answer box was still fat with questions and little Jake's killer held a four lap lead. But at least the field was getting thin. I figured it was one out of three. Sandel or either one of his gunsells. But which one? I got down to the foot of Fillmore Street. The fog was thicker than ankles at a fat ladies convention. And fog horns out beyond Yacht harbor started on overtime. The Bayview Towers was one of those swanky new looking places that gets old in a hurry. It saw lots of brass and brunettes during the war, but now the only uniform left belonged to the doorman. I found Quinlan's sister in the penthouse apartment. And when she opened the door it felt like Clyde Beatty with a broken chair. Her lounging pajamas reminded you of a good butler. They came in and went out at the right places and they stayed close to the job. I felt like the Fisk boy after somebody blew out his candle.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Ah, talent on the loose. Won't you come in?

[Pat Novak]

Yeah, it'll save time. My name's Novak. I got some news for you.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

I'm Bobby Quinlan. Douglas o'.

[Pat Novak]

Fath. I'm looking for answers. Lady, if you want a companion, advertise your brother's dead. Sandel shot him.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Why such a big imagination, Mr. Novak? Why don't you alack here?

[Pat Novak]

Look, I got proof in my pocket. Baby, you want the rest of this couch now?

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

I'VE been lonesome, Novak.

[Pat Novak]

It's gonna get worse with your brother gone. Take a look at the paper later. Yeah, you've been practicing.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

You're getting weak, Patsy. I can feel your heart pounding.

[Pat Novak]

Yeah. Now, let's quiet down and talk murder, shall we?

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

You're hurting. You're hurting.

[Pat Novak]

Where's Sandell?

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Please, that's me.

[Pat Novak]

Where's Sandell? Where is he?

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

In my arm. You'll break it.

[Pat Novak]

Tear it off and throw it away. Now, where's Sandel?

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

I don't know. I swear I don't.

[Pat Novak]

He kills your brother. He shot him down on the street.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

The bum joke, Novak.

[Pat Novak]

All right, if you won't believe me, take a look at this Chronicle. Right there on the front page.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

You're lying, Novak.

[Pat Novak]

Look at it.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

No. Sandell promised. Promised he wouldn't touch Mike.

[Pat Novak]

Why complain? Think how Mike feels now. Where's Sandell?

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

He's down at the hotel. The Durban Arms on Eddy Street. He lied to me, Novak. I played it straight, but he lied to me.

[Pat Novak]

Yeah, you're a mistake, baby. I'll see you later.

[Father Leahy]

Don't leave, Novak. Party just got Dex.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Why'd you do it? You lied. You and Sandel. You promised me and you killed him.

[Father Leahy]

Emerus, sweetheart.

[Pat Novak]

Somebody had to go like that. Alder boy, huh? Got it once.

[Father Leahy]

Novak gets tougher. The second time.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

There's no second time, Dex.

[Father Leahy]

All right, sweetheart. Now take him back.

[Pat Novak]

Yeah. You finished even, baby?

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

They promised me, Patsy. But they lied. He and Sandel. They killed Mike and they lied.

[Father Leahy]

Patsy.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Hold me. Hold me, Pat.

[Pat Novak]

Sorry, baby. You make this trip alone. There wasn't anything I could do for them. So I took a cab down to the Durban Arms on Eddie Street. But Sandel had checked out an hour before. The clerk told me his baggage was still around, though. So I figured that could only mean one thing. I put on a call for Hellman. Then I grabbed a cabin headed for Father. Ladies. By the time I got up on the hill, the fog had taken a lease on most of the town. You can always tell when it's thick because all the sounds out in the bay get a free ride. Halfway there, the driver was ready to quit. But for an extra two bucks, he threw the cabin second. We crawled the rest of the way till we got a block from the church. By that time, the fog was so thick you could have sold it with a pound. I did the last block on foot. I was just about 20 yards away when I spotted Sandel and Mack the Gunsel standing under a street light just outside the door.

[Father Leahy]

To the church.

[Pat Novak]

They waited a minute. When they turned and started up the steps. Don't bother, Sandell. You called too late.

[Father Leahy]

Who is it? Who's out there?

[Pat Novak]

It's a smart plunk, Lot.

[Father Leahy]

Novak. Novak.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Come closer.

[Father Leahy]

I can't see in the fog.

[Pat Novak]

Come on out and get me, Sandel.

[Father Leahy]

There he is, Mac.

[Pat Novak]

You're flying blind, Sandel. You made the trip for nothing. I got the gun and I got the papers.

[Father Leahy]

He's lying, Lot. Come on out, Novak. Make a deal, I said.

[Pat Novak]

You're late, Sandel. I already made the deal with Mac.

[Father Leahy]

You're funny, Novak. This'll shut you up.

[Pat Novak]

Not even close, Mac. Which one have you got? The alder boy.

[Father Leahy]

You sound worried, Novak. You want to tell him, Lud, or should I?

[Pat Novak]

Mac deals a lot better than you shoot, Sandel. Ask him about it, huh?

[Father Leahy]

What's he saying, Mac? He's saying nothing, Ludd. He's talking crazy. Let's go out and get him.

[Pat Novak]

Ask Mac about this afternoon, Sandel. Ask him where he was when Dex got it. Ask him how I got the gun in the paper.

[Father Leahy]

He's crazy, Lud. I'm not so sure, Max. Don't be a sucker, Lot. Novak's playing cute.

[Pat Novak]

Sorry, Mac, you took the chance. He's cunning.

[Father Leahy]

You luddy's liar. Good day, Mac. But I can't chance.

[Pat Novak]

All right, Sandel. Now it's just you and me in the fog.

[Father Leahy]

Come on in, Novak. We'll work a deal. Come in where I can see you.

[Pat Novak]

All right. That's five shots, Lud. You got one left to make good on. All right, Sand y'. All. Now we're even. Come here.

[Father Leahy]

Let me come, Novak. Lay off, Novak. What did I do to you? Cut it out, will you? You didn't get hurt.

[Pat Novak]

Talk to that alder boy, huh?

[Father Leahy]

I didn't mean to hit the kid.

[Pat Novak]

Oh, I'm sick of your mouth. All right, Novak.

[Father Leahy]

That's enough, Novak. I said that's enough. Yeah, Let go of him. This Sandel?

[Pat Novak]

Yeah, that's him.

[Father Leahy]

A few minutes ago, we could have booked him for murder.

[Pat Novak]

You can have him now, Hellman.

[Father Leahy]

You saved the state some money, Novak. Neck's broken. That you, Patsy?

[Pat Novak]

Over here, Father. On the steps.

[Father Leahy]

Hello, Inspector.

[Pat Novak]

Father.

[Father Leahy]

This the man, Patsy?

[Pat Novak]

Yeah, Father. That's him.

[Father Leahy]

I'll pray for him, Patsy.

[Pat Novak]

Why waste it, Father? He wasn't worth it.

[Father Leahy]

They said the same thing about two men on a hill in Calvary.

[Pat Novak]

When the fog lifted the next morning, things got lots clearer. For everybody, the story was the cheap earth in kind. But Then, so were the characters after Mike Quinlan joined up with Sandel and his boys back in 1940. They pulled a bank job in Chicago. And instead of cutting in Mike on the take, Sandel framed him to take the rap for the three of them. Then Sandel came west to operate and lined up Quinlan's sister for his girlfriend. By the time Quinlan was paroled, he was fast on Sandel's game, and he had lots to beef about. He lined up enough good evidence to put Sandel and his two boys away for life. And then he threatened to spill it if Sandel didn't cut him in for his share of the job and stay white of his sister. Sandel wasn't generous and he wasn't genteel, so he played along with his tongue in his cheek and a gun in his pocket. When the time came to swap money for evidence, Quinlan picked the church for a trading ground. Because that's where he'd hidden the box with the evidence. That's where we finally found it. The deal was all set to go, and something scared Quinlan off. And Sandel came in. Mistook me for Quinlan. Get little Jake. Sandel's boys tried to get it Quinlan through his girl, Sally Kimbrough. And when she wouldn't spill, they killed her and planted the body in my apartment to take care of the opposition. Mac and Sandel were in the black sedan when it finally caught up with Quinn and the alley off Mission Street. Well, what did I get out of all this? Nothing. Father Leahy took Jocko to dinner at Lupo's a couple of days later. Jocko's bar bill read like a Social Security number. Hellman asked only one question. How could Father Leahy ever pay for a dinner check that big? I don't know. But when he got back to his church, I noticed he slipped an IOU in the poor box.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Sam.

[Father Leahy]

Novak for Hire was previously released by abc, the American Broadcasting Company, for listeners in the United States, and rebroadcast for our men and women overseas. This is the United States Armed Forces Radio Service, the voice of information and education.

[Jeff Regan]

My name's regan. I work for anthony j. Land, detective bureau. They call me the lion's eye. Jeff Regan, Investigator, starring Frank Graham as Regan.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

With Frank Nelson as Anthony J. Lyon. So stand by for mystery and suspense.

[Jeff Regan]

And adventure in tonight's story of a.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Tree grows in Encino.

[Jeff Regan]

There was a confusion redhead with cool lips and a hot temper, an interior decorator who didn't want his orange trees moved, and a strange little man who hired the Lion Detective. Agency to make sure he got himself convicted of murder. A real sensible case. It was about half past lunchtime when I reported back to the Lion's office to see what was on tap for the afternoon. Plenty was plenty in the form of a thin, haughty little man sitting across the desk from the Lion. Anthony J. Had his mouth wide open when I walked in.

[Father Leahy]

Come in. Hi. I've been waiting for you. This is Mr. McMurray.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Jonathan McMurray.

[Father Leahy]

McMurray? Yes, Jeffrey. He. He thinks he needs our help.

[Jeff Regan]

Not sure yet, Mr. McMurray.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Yes, I am quite sure. It is your employer, Mr. Lyon, who is not sure.

[Father Leahy]

Oh, well, now, I. I wouldn't say that, Mr. McMurray. Yours is a very unusual case.

[Jeff Regan]

Suppose somebody tells me what this is all about.

[Father Leahy]

Well, Jeffrey. Mr. McM.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

I will explain my own problems, Mr. Lyons.

[Jeff Regan]

Yeah, yes, you explain the Mac.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Mr. Regan, it's quite simple. I want you to prove I am guilty of murder.

[Father Leahy]

What? Quite simple, Jeffrey.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

I have murdered my wife, Mr. Regan. I've gone to the police and confessed. They refuse to believe me. It's up to you to prove I'm right.

[Father Leahy]

Yeah, up to us, Jeff.

[Jeff Regan]

Wait a minute, fatso. Let's get all the story, Mac. You killed your wife and the police won't believe it.

[Father Leahy]

When?

[Anthony J. Lyon]

On the morning of April 3rd, at 3am three years ago. Three years?

[Father Leahy]

You see, Jeffrey, I told you this was.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

I had gone to bed early the night of April 2nd. I heard noises several hours later. I assumed they were burglars. I went downstairs taking my gun, of course, and saw a figure breaking in. Naturally, I fired. It was my wife.

[Jeff Regan]

Your wife? Breaking into your own house?

[Anthony J. Lyon]

It seemed that way at the time. Perhaps I was not fully awake. We all make mistakes, you know.

[Jeff Regan]

All make mistakes.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Of course, I do not believe in murder. That is why I am here.

[Jeff Regan]

The police wouldn't believe you.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Nothing but a group of incompetent, immoral civil servants. Are we not paying them to establish law and order? I ask you, Mr. Regan, are we?

[Jeff Regan]

Finish the story. What happened after you shot your wife?

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

In the moment of utter weakness, Ivy.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

I lost my head. I fled the city.

[Jeff Regan]

And for three years you've hidden out. Only your conscience got to bothering you. You finally decided to.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Certainly not. The woman was dead. My problem was more basic. Down to the very roots of nature. I wrestled, shall we say, with all the evil of the world. And what?

[Jeff Regan]

Where?

[Anthony J. Lyon]

In San Francisco, where I had established myself in business. It was last week I decided that I must pay the price or live forever in A morass of sin. I have decided, Mr. Regan, to make an example of myself.

[Father Leahy]

Jeffrey, perhaps we'd better explain to Mr. McMurray that we're pretty busy this season. Maybe some.

[Jeff Regan]

Wait a minute, Max. Did you and your wife get along?

[Anthony J. Lyon]

We quarrel constantly. When I married her, I had assumed she was a woman of some inner dignity and spirit. I discovered she was no better.

[Jeff Regan]

What was his name? I beg your pardon? The other man.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

There was no other man. She had not sunk that low. We quarreled about her work. It kept her out nights.

[Jeff Regan]

Her work kept her out nights.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Exactly. She was an interior decorator. Lois, that was her name. Lois was one of those soulless moderns. Form follows function. That sort of nonsense.

[Jeff Regan]

I take it that you aren't modern.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

I, sir, am an architect. An architect of the old school. I believe in the established order of things. You, Mr. Regan, are morally obligated to see that justice is done.

[Father Leahy]

Age every Dewey man.

[Jeff Regan]

They can't all make sense.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Gentlemen, enough of this childish quibbling. Are you sure you are going to take my case?

[Jeff Regan]

We took the little man's case. We took it with cash in advance and both fingers crossed. The lion fumbled for his fountain pen while McMurray calmly waited with his open checkbook. There's only one place for me to go.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

The police tell me you were looking for me, Regan. Right?

[Jeff Regan]

Lieutenant Tanner. Just the man I was looking for.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

What's her name?

[Jeff Regan]

Ah, this time it's a hymn. Jonathan McMurray.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Never heard of him.

[Jeff Regan]

That happened three years ago. Claims he shot his wife.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Never heard of him.

[Jeff Regan]

Wife's name was Lois. Interior decorator. Oh, yeah. Blonde, about 5, 5 blue eyes.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Age 28. Weighed 116.

[Jeff Regan]

I remember. You met it.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Nope. That was the description the husband filed with us yesterday when he came in. When you told me her name, I remembered.

[Jeff Regan]

Sure, sure you did.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Candid or Regan guys are a dime a dozen around a police station.

[Jeff Regan]

But dames with nice measurements, oh, that's something else. Why didn't you book him, Candid?

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Book him for what?

[Jeff Regan]

The murder of his wife.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Believe that nut story? Are you kidding, Regan? Do I look like I've been on the force that long?

[Jeff Regan]

Candid? A man comes to you and confesses to a three year old murder. He's got a motive and a complete story and you turn him away.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Oh, take it easy, Regan. Mr. McMurray may like the coziness of the gas chamber, but it takes more than that to spend the taxpayers money sending him there.

[Jeff Regan]

Like what?

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Like a corpus delicta.

[Jeff Regan]

A body you should Excuse the expression, nobody.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Regan. Lois McMurray, the little man's wife. Disappeared three years ago. We can get at least two witnesses who say that when she got on the boat for South America, she wasn't dead. She was very much alive.

[Jeff Regan]

Made sense, sure. Real fine sense. Candid. Told me as witnesses. One, Howard Nelson Whitmore, interior decorator, extraordinary. The missing woman's ex boss. The other witness, Mrs. Nelson Whitmore. They'd been with Lois McMurray the day she'd sailed. That was April 4th. The day after McMurray claimed he'd killed her. When a client buys a hundred bucks worth, you give him a hundred bucks worth. I checked the address of Howard Nelson Whitmore and drove out. Robertson Boulevard, Beverly Hills. It was chocolate brown and chalk white. Twisted plywood and copper wire hanging from the ceilings. Average family could live a year on the cost of one month's rent.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

How do you do? May I help you, sir?

[Jeff Regan]

Like to see Mr. Whitmore.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

You mean Mr. Nelson Whitmore? It's hyphenated, you know.

[Jeff Regan]

How wonderful. Could I see Mr. Nelson hyphen Whitmore?

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Oh, didn't I tell you? He's in conference with his wife and we won't discuss the matter again. Howard, is that.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Please.

[Father Leahy]

Well, for the last time.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

It's absurd. Absolutely absurd. We'll see how absurd it is after it's done. And it will be done. You understand?

[Father Leahy]

This is the last time I put up with any of your fantastic schemes.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Now get out, you lame brained nincompoopa. Wow. Hello.

[Jeff Regan]

Hello.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Where did you come from, stranger?

[Jeff Regan]

Your Mrs. Nelson Whitmore.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

For the time being. All things change. You know that, don't you?

[Jeff Regan]

Sure, sure. All things change. Maybe you're not gonna talk about that.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Oh, I'm sure we could, Mr. Regan.

[Jeff Regan]

Jeffrey, again.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

I'm sure we could, Mr. Regan. My God. I'll be at home in an hour. Encino, just off Ventura. You can't miss it.

[Jeff Regan]

She was medium sized and red hair. And medium size and red hair. She drifted out of the place like a pneumatic cloud looking for a bolt of lightning. The secretary watched her leave and swallowed a couple of times. And looked at me and swallowed a couple of times.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

You. You may go in now, Mr. Regan.

[Jeff Regan]

I went in. Mr. Howard Nelson Whitmore looked florid behind his desk, his face flushed and his eyes liquid anger. He was holding a long steel letter opener which he tapped steadily against the desk. My secretary said, you wish to speak to me, Mr. Regan? Well, maybe. Maybe I ought to Come back later. You can discuss whatever you wish to discuss right now. Your wife always like that? I said we could discuss what's your business now. Sorry. Sorry, old man. Forget it. It's just. Just that sometimes. Sometimes she drives me nearly out of.

[Father Leahy]

My mind with her schemes. Her stupid, idiotic schemes.

[Jeff Regan]

Like what? We have a small orange grow about in Encino. Shouldn't say grove, Ellie. Only 10 trees. She doesn't like oranges. No, she wants them moved.

[Father Leahy]

Can you imagine that? She wants those 10 trees uprooted and transplanted to some other part of our land. He says they'll blend into the landscape better.

[Jeff Regan]

And you don't think so? Of course I don't think so. Planted those trees myself three years ago in the spring.

[Father Leahy]

Plenty of them where they are.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Because.

[Jeff Regan]

Because?

[Father Leahy]

Well, because that's where they belong.

[Jeff Regan]

Trees belong certain places, Alice. They will not have you questioning me this way.

[Father Leahy]

I planted those orange trees where I wanted them planted and that's that. They've been there for three years and they've stayed there. Okay, okay.

[Jeff Regan]

Mr. Nelson Whitmore. Your orange isn't at your land. I. I don't know what's gotten into me, Mr. Regan. Letting a few orange trees upset me this way. It's just that I don't like people.

[Father Leahy]

Digging around my yard.

[Jeff Regan]

It's a good idea. Never know what they might turn up. What's that? Nothing. I understand you and your wife were with Lois McMurray when she sailed for South America a few years back. No, sir.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Late.

[Jeff Regan]

I didn't get the name. Mrs. Jonathan McMurray. Lois used to work for you? Yes, yes, of course. Been so long since she left us for South America, that is. Oh, yes, South America, yes. My wife and I went with her to the boat. Funny thing, you know, her husband claims she's dead. Her husband? Jonathan McMurray. Yes, of course, the architect.

[Father Leahy]

Blundering idiot if ever I met one.

[Jeff Regan]

You like people, don't you? I like people. Decent people.

[Father Leahy]

Not narrow minded bigots like that McMurray fellow.

[Jeff Regan]

He's still living in the dark ages now, but as far as his wife's concerned. Lois? She's gone out of the country. Yes, as far as I know. Was three years ago. Hey, three years ago this week. Maybe there's more. More? The mess. Do you mean, Mr. Akin? More that you know, that you aren't telling me. Like why did she suddenly leave for South America? Mrs. McMurray sailed to South America with. With an admirer. In other words, she ran out on her husband. Precisely. Not that I Could blame the poor girl. McMurray never gave her a divorce. She was literally forced into it. It all fits, except for one little item.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Yes?

[Jeff Regan]

McMurray claims he shot his wife on April 3rd. You claim she sailed for South America April 4th. Somebody's lyin'. Somebody was lying. A decorator named Nelson Whitmore or an architect named McMurray. Or maybe it was a bigger switch. Both of them lying. Maybe the answer to that one would be with a fire breathing redhead named Mrs. Nelson Whitmore. She said she'd be home in Encino. It was an invite I wasn't gonna pass up. I got out there around 5:30, the sun dropping down behind the valley hills, the grass around the place soft and moist, and the ten orange trees lining the driveway to Mrs. Nelson Whitmore's house. It was redwood siding, sprawling over a hillside, weaving around like a giant snake. Ranch type for millionaires. Complete with gravel driveway, four car garage and swimming pool. I rang the doorbell.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Hello, Mr. Regan. I knew you were too intelligent to turn down my invitation.

[Jeff Regan]

Red hair, red dressing gown. Same texture, soft and silky. A film of expensive gauze covering golden, tanned skin.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

This way, Mr. Regan. The drink's a mix.

[Jeff Regan]

You thought of everything.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

If we don't think of ourselves, no one else will. What does that sound like, A broom ride? Sit here.

[Jeff Regan]

Nice furniture.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Herman Miller, Mr. Regan. Foam rubber throughout. You didn't come to this guy's furniture, did you?

[Jeff Regan]

I came to discuss a friend of yours.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Mrs. Claire.

[Jeff Regan]

Her name's Lois. Lois McMurray. Lois McMurray. You know, I quit stalling.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Am I stalling, Jeff?

[Jeff Regan]

Can't take you that long to think up an answer. Why do you want those orange trees moved?

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Your mind does travel, doesn't it?

[Jeff Regan]

That's still no answer.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Oh, very well. Jeff. You're being a cad, you know, a real cad.

[Jeff Regan]

I get paid to be a cad.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

You're a private detective. I thought so.

[Jeff Regan]

Look, Claire, there's a big fancy game in progress. Somebody's playing somebody else for a SAP. I get paid to find out who by the hour.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

That must make you terribly expensive, Jeff. Who paid you?

[Jeff Regan]

Wrong pitch, lady. Give me answers instead.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Have it your way. I want the orange trees moved because I want them moved. I don't have to answer for that to you or to my husband.

[Jeff Regan]

It couldn't be because you think there's something under the ground you ought to know about?

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

What a fantastic idea.

[Jeff Regan]

Keep talking.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

I won't be questioned this way, do you hear?

[Jeff Regan]

Lois McMurray didn't leave on Any boat for South America. Did she get out? You and your husband are lying, aren't you?

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Get out of my house.

[Jeff Regan]

I got out. Out of the redwood mansion, out down the gravel driveway, past the orange trees, toward my car. When it happened. Inside. Inside the living room, the smell of cordite behind the thick blue clouds stood Mrs. Claire Nelson Whitmore stood staring at me, a dazed look on her face, a gun hanging limp, my hand at her feet, the haughty little man named Jonathan McMurray. Dead. Claire Nelson Whitmore looked at me, blinked twice, then collapsed unconscious at my feet. It started when the lion and I were hired by a self righteous little man named Jonathan McMurray. He claimed he'd shot his wife three years ago and wanted us to prove it. Only I met an interior decorator and his wife who claimed they'd seen the McMurray woman leave on a boat for South America, very much alive. The only thing that made sense was that I was standing in the living room of the decorator's wife, Claire Nelson Whitmore. She was lying unconscious at my feet, and next to her was my client, Jonathan McMurray. Not unconscious, dead. I called Lieutenant Candor down to police headquarters and waited for Claire Nelson Whitmore to supply some answers. Thanks.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Thank you, Jeff.

[Jeff Regan]

You kill McMurray?

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

He came at me after you left the house. He came through the back door. He had a gun.

[Jeff Regan]

You had a gun.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

I was frightened. Just before you got here this afternoon, I heard a noise. I thought it was a truck backfiring from the highway.

[Jeff Regan]

But it scared you enough to get a gun?

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

He shot first, Mr. Regan. He shot first.

[Jeff Regan]

He shot and missed. And then you fired back.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

I had to, Mr. Regan. I had to. It was self defense.

[Jeff Regan]

There's two guns on the floor, Claire. Yours and McMurray's. Both of them hot. The police will decide. You could save some time by talking now.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Jeff. Jeff, I'm confused. I'm terribly confused. I don't know where to turn.

[Jeff Regan]

That makes sense.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

I didn't mean anything. Earlier today. I didn't mean anything, Jeff.

[Jeff Regan]

All in fun. A great big pitch like that. All in fun.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

It was self defense. I shot him in self defense.

[Jeff Regan]

Police.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Jeff, you believe me?

[Jeff Regan]

Not me, lady. The police. They're the ones that got to believe you. Lieutenant Candid came in with a photographer and three detectives. An ambulance showed up a couple of minutes after that with a medic and two stretcher bearers. I gave Candid the whole story, the business about the orange trees included. He listened, nodded for one of the detectives to take notes and then told me to stick around. In another guy went into Claire Nelson Whitmore. Ten minutes later he came back out.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Couldn't get much, Regan. I thought maybe the dead man's gun had been fired twice. Hers three times. She wasn't hit, Regan.

[Jeff Regan]

She didn't say anything about McMurray's wife, Lois?

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Nope. Nothing you hadn't already told me. Just one thing bothers me, Regan.

[Jeff Regan]

Just one thing.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Those orange trees. Why does she want to move?

[Jeff Regan]

She says they look better somewhere else.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

You think it's as simple as that?

[Jeff Regan]

I don't think anymore. I gave it up when McMurray hired me. If you're looking for logic in this one, Candid, forget it. She's an awful good looking dame, Regan.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Yeah.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Partial to redheads.

[Jeff Regan]

Sure.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Redheads and oranges, Regan. I think I'm gonna dig for oranges.

[Jeff Regan]

You figure it that way, huh?

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Lois McMurray disappeared three years ago and that's when the orange trees were planted.

[Jeff Regan]

Howard Nelson Whitmore, the redhead's husband, made a special point of telling me that Candid.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Oh, now, Regan, he laid it out.

[Jeff Regan]

Like a bad joke in a comedy routine.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

You mean you think he deliberately wants us to look candid?

[Jeff Regan]

You dig, I'll try another idea.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Okay, Regan, I'll dig.

[Jeff Regan]

Candid called the city and the city sent out the diggers. Maybe I was off base. Maybe I'd had too many weird stories for one day. But the orange tree routine smelled as phony as Limburger in a perfume shop. I called my boss, the Lion.

[Father Leahy]

Anthony J. Lion Detective Agency.

[Jeff Regan]

Anthony, me, Petrol. Get your pencil.

[Father Leahy]

Jeffrey, I've been trying to get in touch with with you.

[Jeff Regan]

Okay, you have?

[Father Leahy]

Jeffrey, that McMurray fella called here about two hours ago.

[Jeff Regan]

What?

[Father Leahy]

Jonathan McMurray. He told me to tell you to forget everything.

[Jeff Regan]

He told you that.

[Father Leahy]

He said something about going back to San Francisco. That divine law would write the wrongs, or something like that.

[Jeff Regan]

Ryan, are you sure?

[Father Leahy]

Is something wrong, Jeffrey?

[Jeff Regan]

Just one little thing. Fatso McMurray's here with me now.

[Father Leahy]

Oh, good. I wanted to ask him about Fatso. Well, tell him for me. He did.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

No. Yeah.

[Jeff Regan]

Now listen, line, I've got an idea. I'll need your help. I want a complete check on Lois McMurray, Jonathan's wife. I want to know where she was born, how many kids in the family, if her parents are living, where she met her ex husband, everything.

[Father Leahy]

Are you out of your mind? Our client's dead.

[Jeff Regan]

Don't argue, Fatso. Just get busy. McMurray gets his money worth, fatso. Dead or alive. I went outside. Candid was watching the diggers. How many trees, Canon now?

[Anthony J. Lyon]

We dug up four of them. Six to go.

[Jeff Regan]

Find anything?

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Dirt.

[Jeff Regan]

Still hopeful, huh?

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Still hopeful. I called Howard Nelson Whitmore's office. He'd left there a couple of hours ago, just after you did, his secretary said.

[Jeff Regan]

Think he left for Point South?

[Anthony J. Lyon]

I don't know, Regan. I don't like it.

[Pat Novak]

Any of it.

[Jeff Regan]

Except the redhead. You're partial to redheads, remember?

[Anthony J. Lyon]

I'm looking for a blonde now. A deceased blonde who left for South America.

[Jeff Regan]

You told me about it.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

All right, so maybe she didn't leave for South America. Maybe she's dead, Regan. Dead and buried. Buried under one of those orange trees.

[Jeff Regan]

That's a good guess.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

You got anything better to offer?

[Jeff Regan]

Nope. See you around, Canada. That's when I got an idea, a halfway idea that kept growing until it was a big, full blooded, 100% idea. Claire Nelson Whitmore said she'd heard a noise like a truck backfire from the highway. She said that's why she'd gotten out the gun. Maybe she was telling the truth. Maybe there was one story in the tangle of lies you could believe. I decided to believe it. And that was an answer in itself. Behind the house, the garage was built for four cars. It was loaded. Servants quarters. And then over a couple of yards, swimming pool. I headed that way, checking the garage, trying the door to the servants quarters, finding bushes, shrubs with nothing behind them. Up the hill, the swimming pool. Quiet still, like a mirage in the desert. Emerald pool tile and brick. Oval shape. Spencey. Claire wasn't lying. She'd heard that noise. I found her husband, Howard Nelson Whitmore, in the swimming pool. In the swimming pool? With a hole in his back. Candid and his boys popped up the hill to the pool in a hurry when they caught my signal. And I went down, down to the house. To the room of Claire Nelson Whitmore. Don't get up, lady. You and I are going to have words.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

But, Jeff, you know how bad I feel.

[Jeff Regan]

Yeah, you may feel worse.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

The police said I could rest.

[Jeff Regan]

Yeah, that was before they found your husband dead in the swimming pool. What, you didn't know about that, huh?

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Howard?

[Jeff Regan]

Miss, when they pulled him out, they found a bullet in his back.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Oh, no.

[Father Leahy]

Oh, no.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Jeff. I, I didn't do it. I, I, I didn't do it.

[Jeff Regan]

There's no answer, lady. The whole thing comes in one big package. You tied the ribbon on it. Give me the Phone.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

No, Jeff. No, I didn't.

[Jeff Regan]

I can tell you a few things, baby, but I want to be sure, real sure.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Jeff, I.

[Jeff Regan]

Just give me the phone.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Yes, Je.

[Jeff Regan]

I gave the operator the number. And the redheaded woman sat frightened on the bed while I talked. Her eyes looked at me, cut him deep, staring through the tension, knowing what was happening and hoping it wouldn't happen. I got the lion and I got my answer. While the red headed woman sat staring at me on the bed.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

What? What did you find out about Lois McMurray?

[Jeff Regan]

But I thought I'd find out that she's from Chicago. She has no brothers or sisters, but her parents are both dead.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

She's alive. Yeah, she's alive, Jeff. What does it matter about her?

[Jeff Regan]

Lois McMurray met Jonathan in Chicago just after she got out of prison. Murray made her his project for the year. Salvation. His version of it.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

She married him.

[Jeff Regan]

She married him because she didn't know what else to do. She married him because girls with prison records don't have a lot of choice. She married him and he converted her. He taught her to live a decent life, as he called it. She was his project, Remember the straight now.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

She didn't love him. She never loved him.

[Jeff Regan]

Who could? But she was a confused woman. She needed something, somebody. She got little Jonathan McMurray, crackpot crusader.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Oh, she got it, Jim. And she learned to hate it. Made everything about him hate it. Self righteous conceit.

[Jeff Regan]

But he wouldn't give her a divorce. That was wrong. She didn't appreciate his good deeds.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

She hated him, Jeff. She hated him.

[Jeff Regan]

Yeah, Lois, you hated him. And then you met Howard Nelson Whitmore. He was the opposite of a Murray. Clever, crafty and in love with you. He cooked up a scheme whereby you could get rid of Jonathan. He framed up that burglar routine. Jonathan fired at a shadow that night three years ago. Only when the lights came on, you were on the floor playing dead.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

I had to, Chad. Don't you see? I had to. I couldn't stand it anymore. Living that way, being a prisoner of the man I hated. Anything was better than that.

[Jeff Regan]

And just like Howard figured, Jonathan ran. He ran a long way, but he came back.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Jeff. Why did he have to come back?

[Jeff Regan]

Because he wanted to make an example of himself. You and Howard spoiled that you were alive, not dead. That infuriated him. His one chance in life to be a martyr, and you and Howard ruined it for him.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

That's why.

[Jeff Regan]

That's why he shot Howard and then came after you.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Vengeance.

[Jeff Regan]

Wrath of the righteous. Divine law, he called it. He was gonna be a martyr after all.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

Sheps, you know that I didn't shoot first. You know. It was him. Jonathan Mean. Hey.

[Jeff Regan]

When I came around, Howard Nelson Whitmore got scared of his story about seeing Lois leave of South America. He knew he couldn't make it stick, so he tried that orange tree routine while I was in his office. Figured the cops might dig, but they'd never find a body. No corpse, no crime. It's the whole story, lady. You dyed your hair red, no relatives to identify you. You forgot about being Lois McMurray.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

She's dead. Please let her stay there. All right, Mrs. Whitmore, open up.

[Jeff Regan]

That's it, Lois. Candid's no dumbbell.

[Jake Seagull / Bobby Quinlan / Claire Nelson Whitmore / Other minor characters]

He doesn't know that I. No one knows but me.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

I know.

[Jeff Regan]

I'll testify for you, Lois, but I won't lie for you.

[Father Leahy]

All right, open up that door.

[Jeff Regan]

You've got hands, Candid. Open it up yourself. They took Lois down to headquarters and got the full story from beginning to end. Sure, she was booked on a couple of accounts, but nowhere in it could they stick a murder charge. That made Lt. Candid an unhappy man. After all, he figured maybe the chief would begin to think he was partial to redheads. When I got to the office the next morning, my boss, Anthony J. Lyon, looked as cheerful as a kid with the measles. Hi, Fatso.

[Father Leahy]

Hello, Jeffrey.

[Jeff Regan]

Nice day, Alan. Real nice day.

[Father Leahy]

Easy, Jeffrey. I. I didn't notice.

[Jeff Regan]

What's eating you? We just wrapped up a hundred dollar case. Just like that. Yes, Jeffrey, I know.

[Father Leahy]

A hundred dollar case.

[Jeff Regan]

Wait a minute, Faso. We did get paid, didn't we? McMurray may have been a murderer, but not paying would be something else to him, you know, a sin to cheat.

[Father Leahy]

Yes, Jeffrey. Mr. McMurray didn't plan to cheat us. In fact, he said he'd send me the money later. Later?

[Jeff Regan]

Look, when I left the office this morning, he had his checkbook out and you were reaching for your fountain pen.

[Father Leahy]

Jeffrey, I tried to tell you on the phone. There was a mistake in the contract. Well, he wanted his lawyer to. There was a legal question, Jeffrey. I ran out of ink.

[Jeff Regan]

Jeff Regan, Investigator is written by William Frug and William Fifield.

[Anthony J. Lyon]

Produced and directed by Sterling Tracy and.

[Jeff Regan]

Stars Frank Graham as Regan with Frank Nelson as Anthony J. Lyon. Original music is by Dick Around. Bob Stevenson speaking. Inviting you to be with us again for more suspense and mischief Streamed adventure with Jeff Regan.

[Case Closed Host]

That's our show for this week. You can find more from Pat Novak. Jeff Regan this podcast and all of the Relic radio shows@ Relicradio.com thousands of episodes to listen to there and to shout, cast, stream with even more old time Radio. Thanks for joining me this week. I'll be back tomorrow with A Legacy of Laughs Friday with Relic Radio Thrillers and of course, our Horror and Strange Tales over the weekend. And of course next Wednesday with our next episode of Case Closed.