Broadway Is My Beat: The Lynn Halstead Murder Case 01/19/1952

Summary

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Broadway Is My Beat: The Lynn Halstead Murder Case (01/19/1952)

Podcast: Choice Classic Radio Detectives | Old Time Radio

Episode Date: March 4, 2026
Runtime for summary: 00:24 – 27:25
Host: Choice Classic Radio

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Episode Overview

This episode features a classic 1952 broadcast of "Broadway Is My Beat" titled "The Lynn Halstead Murder Case." Detective Danny Clover investigates the mysterious killing of Lynn Halstead, a young woman new to New York City, unraveling her secret life and the people entwined with her final days. The story weaves themes of loneliness, love, identity, and jealousy against the gritty, evocative backdrop of Broadway.

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Key Discussion Points & Narrative Highlights

Setting the Scene

• Detective Danny Clover’s Monologue:
  Describes Broadway as a vibrant but often lonely stretch, setting a moody, reflective tone for the episode (00:24–01:39).

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The Body in the Morgue

• Dr. Stephen Halstead, Lynn's Father:
  Brought to identify his daughter's body, expressing sorrow and confusion about Lynn's life and death in New York.

  • “She wanted to come home... New York, but it's so big, so hard to make friends.” (01:39 – 01:50)

• Halstead reveals Lynn left Akron at 18 and worked as a private secretary for an unnamed real estate office. He notes her address at the Linden Apartments in Gramercy Park, but hints at distance between them in recent years (02:36–02:52).

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Gramercy Park and Lynn’s Double Life

• Linden Apartments Manager, Mr. Clement:
  Explains Lynn rarely stayed at her Gramercy address and mostly used it for mail and phone messages. Her apartment is in disarray, with bloodstains on the carpet (04:01–05:28).

  • “She lived here but didn’t live here... only used us as a mailing address.” (04:29–04:32)

• Key Discovery:
  A man has called regularly for three days without leaving a name.

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Gene Blake – The Boyfriend

• Gene’s Diner:
  Detective Clover follows the trail to Gene Blake’s lunchroom, whose phone number was recovered from Lynn’s apartment.

• Gene learns painfully from Clover that Lynn is dead, despite having a date with her that night:

  • “She’s not dead. I’ve got a date with her tonight.” (07:06)

• Reveals Lynn led a private life, never letting him visit her home, and gave few personal details (07:44–08:22).

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Who Was Lynn’s Employer?

• John Martin, Real Estate Broker:
  Describes Lynn as his “finest secretary,” expressing shock at her death.

  • “Go know a girl... takes your dictation... trudges across the street to bring you coffee... Then police find her in a river. You all know them.” (10:41–10:55)

  Indicates Lynn appeared happy and never let on about issues or her wish to leave the city (10:55–11:16).

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A Second Lynn Halstead?

• Hospital Emergency Ward:
  Dr. Sinski has found a wounded woman in a nightgown and fur coat, wandering the streets. She identifies herself as Lynn Halstead.

  • “Name... Lynn. Lynn Halstead.” (13:00)

• Dr. Sinski confirms the bullet wound had been tended to by a professional, suggesting it was not immediately fatal and that she could have survived with proper care (14:36–15:27).

• The true Lynn Halstead is alive, undermining the earlier identification at the morgue.

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The Emotional Reunion & Revelations

• Lynn’s Death:
  Dr. Halstead is reunited with the real Lynn, but she quickly succumbs to her injuries in an emotional scene:

  • Lynn: “It’ll be all right now, Daddy.”
  • Dr. Halstead: “Of course it will.” (16:38–16:42)

  This is a poignant moment of reconciliation before her death.

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Confession and Cover-Up

• Dr. Halstead’s Confession (Post-Reunion):
  Halstead admits he found Lynn already dying, attempted to save her, and falsely identified another dead girl as Lynn to protect her from her assailant (17:42–19:22).

  • “I identified her as Lynn because I wanted to keep Lynn alive.” (19:01)

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The Case Comes Together

• Sergeant Chino delivers news:
  The woman found in the river is identified as Lily Follette, not Lynn. Lynn owned a cottage on Long Island, an unusual asset for a secretary, suggesting hidden relationships (20:10–21:20).

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Sting Operation: The Killer’s Confession

• Trap for John Martin:
  Using a policewoman to impersonate Lynn in a phone call, police summon John Martin. Clover confronts him with inconsistencies and evidence tying him to Lynn’s murder (21:38–24:32).

  • Clover: “You didn’t know whether Lynn was dead or alive until just now, did you?” (24:25)

• Motive and Confession:
  Martin, angered by Lynn’s refusal of his “generosity”—particularly the Long Island cottage—killed her out of jealousy when she wanted to end their secret affair for a simpler life and love with Gene.

  • Martin: “Sure. I killed her. What do you think I was anyhow? A punk?” (26:05–26:42)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Danny Clover’s Poetic Narration:
  “Broadway's my beat... The gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world.” (00:24–00:36 and 26:42–end)

• On Loneliness and Dreams:
  “There were no dreams where I was; in the big room, the chilled room, the room of the lost dead—the city morgue.” (00:51–01:39)

• Gene Blake’s Shock:
  “She’s not dead. I’ve got a date with her tonight.” (07:06)

• Emotional goodbye:
  Lynn: “It’ll be all right now, Daddy.”
  Dr. Halstead: “Of course it will.” (16:38–16:42)

• Martin’s Bitter Confession:
  “Sure. I killed her. What do you think I was anyhow? A punk? Some young punk...” (26:05–26:42)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:24–01:39 – Opening monologue, Broadway as a character
• 01:39–03:05 – Morgue identification and Halstead's sorrow
• 04:01–05:32 – Revealing Lynn’s secretive lifestyle at Linden Apartments
• 06:31–08:22 – Gene Blake on his relationship with Lynn
• 09:46–11:35 – John Martin’s office: Employer's testimony
• 13:00–13:22 – Hospital: Lynn's survival and self-identification
• 16:34–17:17 – Dr. Halstead and Lynn’s final moments
• 17:42–19:22 – Dr. Halstead’s confession
• 21:34–22:51 – The setup: Police prepare the sting call
• 22:51–26:42 – Confrontation and Martin’s confession

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Summary and Impact

The episode masterfully balances hard-boiled detective tropes with evocative, melancholy narration. At its heart lies a story about fractured relationships, hidden lives, and the tragic consequences of obsessive love and jealousy. Detective Clover’s poetic voice-overs enhance the emotional gravity, culminating in a twisty, deeply human story of loss and longing against New York’s restless pulse.

Fans of classic radio noir will appreciate both the intricate plotting and the atmospheric storytelling that make this episode a quintessential slice of radio detective drama.

Transcript

[Announcer]

Welcome to Choice Classic Radio, where we bring to you the greatest old time radio shows like us on Facebook. Subscribe to us on YouTube and thank you for [e-mail].

[Detective Danny Clover]

Broadway's my beat From Times Square to Columbus Circle. The gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world World.

[Narrator]

Broadway's my beat with larry thor as detective danny clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Broadway settles down to another year's living. The days begin to drift backward again away from you like they did last year and it starts all over. Punch the time card, smile at the boss and the income tax forms can be picked up at any bank or branch post office. But there's still the dream and it could happen on Broadway. It's the corner of the world where a million performers do their bit just for you. It's carnival and a clown and a girl with yellow hair blowing kisses the end of a ride that costs you a dime maybe you'll get your money's worth. But there were no dreams where I was in the big room, the chilled room, the room of the lost dead. The city morgue, the man with me, the seeker of sorrow.

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

And father. And she wanted to come home, Mr. Clover. The last letter I got from her told me how much she missed Akron. Not that she didn't like New York, but it's so big, so hard to make friends. Yeah.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You want to look now, Dr. Halston?

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

Yes,

[Detective Danny Clover]

Doctor.

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

How did she die?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Here. Shot.

[Dr. Sinski]

Lynn shot. Where did you find her?

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

Look, doctor, I want to know. Where was she found?

[Detective Danny Clover]

The river. She's been here for three days.

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

No. No, I. I want to look at her. I want to look at her face.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You haven't said it directly, Doctor. She is your daughter, isn't she?

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

My daughter?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Feeling all right, Doctor?

[John Martin]

Yes.

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

I just want to sit down.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Cigarette? How long has Lynn been in New York?

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

About three years. She left Akron on her 18th birthday. Didn't have much trouble getting jobs as.

[Gene Blake]

As far as I knew.

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

Her last employment was at a private secretary.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Private secretary? With whom?

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

She didn't say. She just mentioned it was a real estate office and that she liked her work.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Where did she live? Here in town.

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

I addressed my letters to her at the Linden Apartments in Gramercy Park. Please, Mr. Clover, leave me alone with her for a little while.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And know that outside the light of the winter's morning is brilliant, dazzling as it strikes the frost veiled chrome of the city. But here, it must filter through steel. Webbed windows reflect off. The faces of the dead grow dim. Here, it Lies against the closed eyes of a man who has made the journey found at its end, his child's death. Then his hand reaches out to the girl's forehead, draws aside a strand of hair, Tries to smooth away the pain, the shock that had been frozen there. And walk away from it. Because this is an image of anguish seen too many times. Go now to the Linden Apartments. Yellow ivy clinging to old marble facing the steel fenced winter's garden, whose paths can be walked only by those privileged with a key to its gates. Gramercy Park. Talk to a man who, among his other duties, had dispensed such a key to Lynn Halstead.

[Announcer]

You understand, it's quite a privilege, our private little park. And I must say of Ms. Halstead, she availed herself of it far too rarely. For what reasons I shudder to think.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Why, Mr. Clemon? Why do you shudder?

[Announcer]

Well, after all, it is rather desirable to maintain residence here in Gramercy. I could show you waiting lists. Years.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Long Ms. Halstead lived here. I don't see her.

[Announcer]

Of course she lived here, but so sporadically. Weeks on weeks would go by with her apartment standing for long, empty, lonely.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You're saying, Mr. Clement, that she lived here but didn't live here?

[Announcer]

Only used us as a mailing address, I fear, and a kind of phone service. For what reason?

[Detective Danny Clover]

I know you shudder.

[Announcer]

Quite. See, her mailbox is filled with uncalled for letters here from Dr. Halstead.

[Detective Danny Clover]

A relative give them to me from

[Announcer]

department stores, book clubs and these phone messages. This man has been calling for three days now. I keep telling him Ms. Lynn isn't in. Leaves his number, not his name.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Give it to me.

[Announcer]

Why, of course. No one else to give it to now, is there?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Show me her apartment, Mr. Clement.

[Announcer]

I delighted to. It's one of our most desirable. Now, I'm free to inform the management that it's.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Which one is it?

[Announcer]

Just down the hall. Here we are. Oh, what a mess. What a frightful mess. The disarray, the things left about. Why these stains on our carpets?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Blood stains, Mr. Clement, that.

[Announcer]

That kind of state. But that means she must have been here when she here in Gramercy park when she.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Where's the phone? Why, there.

[Announcer]

There, under that French dolly. You got to call that number I gave you.

[Dr. Sinski]

That's.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Gene's lunchroom. Who is this? The Gene Blake? Who's this? This is the police, Mr. Blake. Where are you? 48 and 3rd. White enamel coffee pot in the window. Stay there. I'll be here. Kidd.

[Gene Blake]

Something for you.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah, coffee be fine.

[Gene Blake]

Fresh Donut?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Just coffee, please. Sure.

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

Coffee.

[Gene Blake]

You take cream?

[Detective Danny Clover]

This is fine. Your name's Gene Blake?

[Gene Blake]

That's right. Oh, you must be the phone call I had a little while ago.

[Detective Danny Clover]

My name's Danny Clover.

[Gene Blake]

You're the policeman, huh?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Uh huh. You know a girl named Lynn Halstead? Sure I do. When was the last time you saw her?

[Gene Blake]

You tell me first, Danny. What's the trouble?

[Detective Danny Clover]

She's dead, Gene.

[Gene Blake]

She's not dead. I've got a date with her tonight.

[Detective Danny Clover]

When was the last time you saw her? Three.

[Gene Blake]

No, see, four days ago.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The last time you talked to her? Well, I haven't talked to her for.

[Gene Blake]

Well, since the last time I saw her.

[Detective Danny Clover]

She's dead. Cut it out, will you? This morning her father identified her at the morgue. There's no doubt about it. I said cut it out, will ya?

[Gene Blake]

So that's why she.

[Detective Danny Clover]

That's why what?

[Gene Blake]

Well, I've been calling her, you know, to talk to her, to remind her about our date tonight. She was never in. She never returned my calls. In a hospital. Sick, huh?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Lynn was murdered. She was found in the. I don't want you to tell me.

[Gene Blake]

I don't want you to tell me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You known her for long?

[Gene Blake]

August, I think it was. I didn't get to fall in love with her till September.

[Detective Danny Clover]

How'd you meet her, Gene?

[Gene Blake]

She wandered in here one night late. Sat down there and had coffee. She talked to me. Thought my line of patter was connected. We got along, that's all. I closed the joint, took her dancing. Neither one of us did things very well. Dance or conversation things. That's why we got along so good.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Did you see her often?

[Gene Blake]

Yeah, a couple of times a week. Sometimes three. A movie, walking, a drink. It's funny though. I never took her home. She wouldn't let me. Just give me her phone number.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Do you know where she worked?

[Gene Blake]

The secretarial or something? A couple of times I picked her up in front of the Equitable Building, I guess there.

[Detective Danny Clover]

But she never said, you'll be here whenever I want. You hunting?

[Gene Blake]

Yeah. Where am I gonna go?

[Detective Danny Clover]

And gather up the pieces that had once shaped the pattern of a girl's life. An apartment in Gramercy park for mail, for phone messages, for death. Her wandering onto a man who then walked with her, danced with her, loved her. A father who had seen her lying in the morgue. And against them, the barrier of secrecy the girl had woven out of the city's darkness. Not to tell them where she worked, to give them only a phone number. A mailing address against their sudden need of her. And take what Gene Blake has given you, among other things, the name of a building, the Equitable Building. Find it in the 40s on Madison. Try it. And after many real estate offices and receptionists who lip were not moist enough, had to be moistened again before answering the policeman, after the long parade of friendly real estate brokers with the bone crusher handclasp and the sorrow at not knowing a girl named Lynn Halstead, Find the man who did know her, whose private secretary she was. John Martin Real Estate. Don't look anymore. We'll find you a home.

[John Martin]

And I mean it, Mr. Clover. I'm dedicated to it. Why, it's the passion of John Martin's life. Finding the right home for it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Must be gratifying when you do, Mr. Martin.

[John Martin]

Oh, it is. Let me tell you it is.

[Detective Danny Clover]

That photograph on your desk, Mr. Martin. Yeah? Your family. Yes.

[John Martin]

Yes. Oh, I like you for that, Mr. Clover. I like you for taking notice of something like that. Go on, pick it up. Take a good long look at it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Oh, fine looking boy.

[John Martin]

Yes.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Auntie, this woman is Mrs. Martin.

[John Martin]

Ah, my doll. My sister, my mother. My wife takes care of me like I was a baby with a colic. And now, you were saying about Lynn?

[Detective Danny Clover]

We found her in the river, shot to death. She lay in the morgue three days before anyone identified her.

[John Martin]

Someone finally did, huh?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yes. Her father, Dr. Stephen Halstead. He came from Akron to take his daughter home. She'd written him. She wanted to go home. Go Noah girl.

[John Martin]

Go Noah girl who works for you day in and day out, Takes your dictation, reminds you it's a wife's birthday, trudges across the street on her own time to bring you coffee, a snack. Then police find her in a river. Y' all know them.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You didn't know she wanted to go home?

[John Martin]

Oh, it's like a boat from the blue. Mr. Clover. I thought Lyn was happy here working for me. She told me many times how glad she was, how I'd helped her to finally carve a niche for herself in this crazy town.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah, Something I said before, Mr. Martin? Lynn was in the morgue for three days. No one came to identify her.

[John Martin]

Oh, you're saying that I should have done that? Look, a girl. A girl as beautiful, young as Lynn, she takes three days off. I'm not the man to question such wins. She could have been gone a week or a month. Her job would have still been here for her.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Well, there are other private secretaries.

[Dr. Sinski]

You're Kidding.

[John Martin]

None like Lynn.

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

Why, she.

[John Martin]

Oh, excuse me, please. John Martin, real estate. Oh, yes, yes, yes, he's here.

[Dr. Sinski]

Oh, you. Mr. Clover.

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

Thanks.

[Dr. Sinski]

Yes, this is Dr. Sinski. I've called every real estate agent in the Equitable Building. Danny, I'm in the emergency ward. Get down here.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'm busy.

[Dr. Sinski]

I'm sure you're busy. So am I. It'll all keep. Just get down here fast. Drink it. Drink it all down and you'll sleep. The hurt will go away.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Dr. Sinski.

[Dr. Sinski]

Fine. Very good.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Dr. Sinski.

[Dr. Sinski]

Hello, Danny. It never stops, does it?

[Detective Danny Clover]

All right, just tell me what happened.

[Dr. Sinski]

Fur coat over there. On the chair she was wearing when she was brought in here at 10 o'.

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

Clock.

[Dr. Sinski]

And under it, the nightgown she has on, wandering around the street that way. What happens to people, Danny?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Who is she?

[Dr. Sinski]

Who is she? Wait, Miss. Can you hear me, Miss? I want you to tell me your name. Miss.

[Lynn Halstead]

Name.

[Dr. Sinski]

I want you to tell me again, Miss.

[Lynn Halstead]

Name. Lynn. Lynn Halstead.

[Narrator]

You are listening to Broadway's My Beat, written by Morton Fine and David Friedkin and starring Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The new year has taken hold now, and already Broadway scurries to quicken its passing. There are ways to do that. Add more neon to burn away the nighttimes. More Mazdas in the spectaculars to wink away the long darkness and the illusions. No new ones, kid. Last year's models heated up and with a new paint job, no one will know the difference. Need an illusion, kid, to pass the time for free. Just reach in the bag. Every color, every size. Faded a little, worn a little. But at these prices, what do you expect? Big red rose, all dewy with tears. Reach in, kid. Take your pick and hurry because Broadway's waiting in line. But the lost girl who had wandered A city drifted on winter's wind. This was no illusion. Nor was her slow, still dying.

[Dr. Sinski]

I tell you this, Danny, this girl could have stayed alive. Even with the bullet wound that is in her.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You mean she wanted to die?

[Dr. Sinski]

No. No, I. I don't think so. I think what made her get out of whatever bed she was in made her walk in the cold, only in the nightgown and the coat. What made her do that was something else. Shock, maybe. Hurt, maybe. A memory.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You're saying that if she'd stayed where she was, she wouldn't have to die?

[Dr. Sinski]

What else am I saying? The wound had been tended to, the bullet removed three, four days ago. Professionally, the healing had already begun to take hold. It was not the work of a clumsy man. Then it was the work of a professional.

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

A doctor.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You're sure of that?

[Dr. Sinski]

Some things I know. There I'm saying to you, this girl undid what was done for her.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Can she be moved?

[Dr. Sinski]

Yeah, it won't matter.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Put her in a room upstairs.

[Dr. Sinski]

All right. We've been going all around it, Danny.

[John Martin]

We haven't let ourselves dwell on what she told us.

[Detective Danny Clover]

That she was Lynn Halstead.

[Dr. Sinski]

That she was Lynn Halsted.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'll make a call.

[Dr. Sinski]

Dr. Halstead. The man who called another dead girl his daughter.

[Detective Danny Clover]

That's right.

[Dr. Sinski]

Tell him to get here quickly, Danny.

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

And.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And what?

[Dr. Sinski]

Nothing.

[John Martin]

Just tell him to get here quickly.

[Detective Danny Clover]

One more thing, Doctor.

[Announcer]

What?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Don't talk to any reporters. I don't want this to get out.

[Dr. Sinski]

Danny, please. Get this girl's father here quickly.

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

If you'd only explain to me, Mr. Clover, why. Why you asked me to come down here after all.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You'll get all the explanation you need, Dr. Halstead. Very well. Is it. What? Never mind. This is the room. Go ahead, Doctor. On the other side of the screen.

[Dr. Sinski]

Lynn?

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

Hello, Lynn.

[Lynn Halstead]

It'll be all right now, Daddy.

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

Of course it will.

[Lynn Halstead]

All right now?

[Dr. Sinski]

Yes.

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

I won't go away again.

[Lynn Halstead]

I waited. It was so long.

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

It was just a little while then. That's all. No more than an hour, it seemed.

[Lynn Halstead]

Seemed?

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

Don't talk. Lynn. Lynn. Ms. Clover?

[Gene Blake]

Yes?

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

My daughter is dead.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yes. I'm sorry.

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

This is my daughter. This is Lynn.

[Detective Danny Clover]

That other girl, the one in the morgue. Who is she?

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

I don't know. I'd never seen her before. Well, it's over, I suppose. You'll have to do something about me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Obstruction of justice, Doctor, There'll be something you'll be charged with. You want to talk with me now? Outside. All right. All right.

[Dr. Sinski]

Doctor.

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

I got to New York four days ago. I came here to bring Lynn home. I found her apart from House. And I found Lynn.

[Detective Danny Clover]

She'd been shot. Doctor, did you.

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

I found Lynn. She was dying when I got to her. I didn't shoot her, Mr. Clover. You can think so. I don't care. I really don't. If you want me to say I shot her and you want to charge me with that. It's all. Want me to? I'll say I did.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Just tell me what happened, Dr. Halston.

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

She'd been shot. She was barely conscious.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Tell you who shot her?

[Dr. Sinski]

No.

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

She cried when she saw me, that's all. Then she went into shock. After that. After that, she just babbled about her childhood, about her home, about the far away years.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And You a doctor? You removed the voluntary?

[Dr. Sinski]

Yes.

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

I didn't know whether she was going to live. I just sat beside her and waited for her to say the person's name who shot her. There were phone calls and people knocking on the door. I never moved from her side. But she never spoke the person's name who shot her.

[Detective Danny Clover]

How did she get away from you?

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

When I came to the morgue this morning, Lynn was gone when I got back. I guess she wandered around looking for me or looking for something. I don't know.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Why did you come to the morgue?

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

Those phone calls, those people at the door, I. I suddenly realized that one of them might be my daughter's assailant. Go on. I'm a doctor. I've been in morgues before. There was a good chance there'd be an unidentified girl in your morgue. There was. I identified her as Lynn because I wanted to keep Lynn alive.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You did all that? You could have gone to the police.

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

I'm here now. And you'll do what you have to do.

[Sergeant Chino]

Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What do you want, Chino?

[Sergeant Chino]

Well, at least look at me when you ask me what do I want. The way you stand at the window, staring out into the nowhere and the beyond gives a person chew blames.

[Gene Blake]

Sorry.

[Sergeant Chino]

Gina, my eldest, Tina, does the same thing. Astera from Cole Winders. What am I to do with you two now?

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'm looking at you, Sergeant. I ask you again, what do you want?

[Sergeant Chino]

To give you things like that. Dr. Halstead is now being held by the DA for arraignment.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Go ahead.

[Dr. Sinski]

Thank you.

[Sergeant Chino]

The girl in the morgue whom Dr. Halstead called his daughter has been identified. This time for sure. Oh, a Ms. Lily Follette, a frequenter of bars where there was frequent mayhem. The last one she saw attended. Cost of her life. Our boys have ascertained it was there. She was shot from there, tossed into the river. Several characters are now being held on suspicion of her murder.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Anything else?

[Sergeant Chino]

The rundown under true Lynn Halstead, the

[Detective Danny Clover]

girl who brief it.

[Sergeant Chino]

Gino, it goes without saying. Ms. Halstead left Akron, arrived in our city three years ago. This checks with her father's testimony while here. Attempted all the things bright out of town girls attempt drama school, modeling.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What else is it?

[Sergeant Chino]

What else is that? Our checkers have discovered where Ms. Halstead was staying when she was not staying at the Linden Apartments. Oh, indeed. Our checkers, having gone over Ms. Halstead's place at the Linden with fine tooth and comb, came up with a commuter's ticket to Long island in Hurry. Thanks. And to Long island they went.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You want them to tell me what they found, Gino?

[Sergeant Chino]

A cottage. Small, quicksound and highway. Owned by Ms. Halstead. Nice going for a secretary to maintain two residences.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Nice going to you too, Gino. You understand everything now, officer?

[Lynn Halstead]

I think so.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I can go over it for you again if you want.

[Lynn Halstead]

I'll be okay.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Use this phone. I'll listen in on the extension. Go ahead. Try to act hurt, officer.

[Lynn Halstead]

I'll try, Lieutenant, but I've never been shot.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Hello?

[Lynn Halstead]

John?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Hello? Who's that?

[Lynn Halstead]

It. It's lynn.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Who is it?

[Lynn Halstead]

Lynn. Lynn halstead.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Where are you?

[Lynn Halstead]

Where you left me. You know where I am. John, wait. All right, lieutenant, just.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Oh, sit down, Mr. Martin. I said, sit down. That's right.

[John Martin]

Where's Lynn?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Dead.

[John Martin]

I don't believe you.

[Detective Danny Clover]

That's up to you.

[John Martin]

Look, once before you told me Lynn was dead, I. I just talked to Lynn less than an hour ago.

[Detective Danny Clover]

That's funny. She's dead.

[John Martin]

Where is she?

[Detective Danny Clover]

In there. In her bedroom. You want to see her?

[John Martin]

Died after she called me, huh?

[Detective Danny Clover]

You want to see her, Mr. Martin? No.

[John Martin]

No, I. I never could stand the sight of death. Well, I guess I'll be going, Mr. Clover. I guess the papers will tell me the where and when about the funeral.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Don't go, Mr. Martin. Why not? Lynn's not in her bedroom. She died hours ago.

[John Martin]

I don't get you.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Oh.

[John Martin]

What are you doing? Playing crazy games? You get your kicks playing with a dead girl's name? She is here. She isn't here. She's dead. She isn't dead. Who called me, anyhow?

[Detective Danny Clover]

A policewoman.

[John Martin]

A policewoman? Well, be proud. Funny. Funny game you policemen play.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Why'd you come here, Mr. Martin?

[John Martin]

I'm a sucker for phone calls. A girl calls and tells me she's alive, I get happy about it and

[Detective Danny Clover]

I call a cat. That's not the reason.

[John Martin]

Well, read my mind for me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

All right. You came here to finish what you started out to do, to kill Lynn Halstead.

[John Martin]

I gotta take this from you?

[Detective Danny Clover]

No. You can just submit to arrest, come downtown, call a lawyer and tell him you're being held for murder. Even let you call your family, tell them the same thing.

[John Martin]

What's on your mind?

[Detective Danny Clover]

You didn't know whether Lynn was dead or alive until just now, did you? You just knew the girl who was first identified as Lynn wasn't really her.

[John Martin]

You told me she was, and I believed you. Why shouldn't I believe you?

[Detective Danny Clover]

You didn't believe me the first time I talked to you. You knew the girl dragged out of the river wasn't Lynn because how could Lynn have gotten to the river? You must have gone out of your mind, Mr. Martin. Shoot a girl and there's no. No news of the shooting. Just waiting. And a girl is identified as Lynn Halsted. You knew it wasn't Lynn Halstead at all. All you could do was wait.

[John Martin]

What are you mixing me up in this for anyhow? I. I got a family.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You had a family when Lynn Halstead walked into your office. She was a beautiful girl, wasn't she?

[John Martin]

I told you that.

[Detective Danny Clover]

How much were you paying her as a secretary?

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

Well.

[John Martin]

Well, she was a good secretary. I paid her $75 a week.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I guess she could have afforded her place here at the linen department, but

[John Martin]

I raised her to 75.

[Detective Danny Clover]

But how could she afford to buy that cottage in Long Island? I thought about that, Mr. Martin. I asked myself a question. If a real estate broker has a friend and he wants to keep the friendship quiet.

[Dr. Stephen Halstead]

All right, all right, all right.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I gave her the house. But she gave it back to you, didn't she? Everything in it. Because she found a boy she fell in love with.

[Gene Blake]

Love.

[John Martin]

That's love.

[Mugavan]

What she had with that soup slinger

[John Martin]

in that 10 seat restaurant.

[Detective Danny Clover]

She told you to sell it, do anything you wanted with it. She didn't want any strings attached to you anymore, so you killed her.

[John Martin]

That's love.

[Mugavan]

What she had with that soup slinger. Cheap movies, walking in the park. That's love. Listen, I've been through it when I was a young punk. You think that kind of stuff was for Lynn?

[Detective Danny Clover]

So you killed her?

[Mugavan]

I thought I did. I sweated through it for four days, I did. She walked out on me. You think that's fair? Sure. I killed her. What do you think I was anyhow? A punk? Some young punk. What you think I was anyhow?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Broadway's quiet now. The hour without color. 6:00 clock hour, the hour of going home. But in a while the night will dip down and touch the street. There'll be fury again. A rack and roar and crowd. The puppet dance into a screaming furnace of light. It's Broadway. The gaudiest, the most violet, lonesomest mile in the world. Broadway, My beat.

[Narrator]

Broadway is my beat. Stars Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover. With Charles Calvert as Tortaglia and Jack Crucian as Mugavan. The program was produced and directed by Elliot Lewis with musical score composed and conducted by Alexander Courage. In tonight's story, William Conrad was heard as John Martin and herb Butterfield. As Dr. Halstead. Featured in the cast were High ever back, Joyce McCluskey and Bob Bruce.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Ram.