Broadway Is My Beat: The Thomas Hart Murder Case 04/14/1951

Summary

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Choice Classic Radio Detectives | Old Time Radio

Episode: Broadway Is My Beat - "The Thomas Hart Murder Case" (04/14/1951)

Original Air Date: April 14, 1951
Podcast Release: September 17, 2025
Host: Choice Classic Radio
Detective: Danny Clover (Larry Thor)

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Episode Overview

This classic radio drama plunges listeners into the hard-boiled atmosphere of New York’s Broadway, following Detective Danny Clover as he investigates the murder of Thomas Hart, an errand boy for a garment manufacturer. As the case unfolds, Clover uncovers a web of jealousy, blackmail, and betrayal set against the vibrant, shadowy backdrop of postwar Manhattan’s fashion world. The emotional turbulence beneath the city’s glitzy veneer comes alive through sharp dialogue and noir atmosphere, leading to a shocking conclusion involving the powerful Sinclair family and their employees.

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Key Discussion Points & Plot Developments

1. The Murder Scene and Initial Investigation

[01:21] – [03:14]

• Detective Danny Clover paints a vivid picture of Broadway’s bustling, restless mood; the city’s transition from day to night sets the noir tone.
• Thomas Hart is found murdered in the street, a pair of scissors stabbed into his back, dress racks and spilled sample dresses emblematic of the garment district’s bustle.
• Key Character Introduction: Mugavan, fellow cop, provides first details—victim’s identification and initial canvassing.

Quote:

“The dress rack he'd been pushing lay beneath him. There was a scissors in his back. His blood sketched a new pattern on the bright flowered silk prints.” — Danny Clover [01:52]

2. Sinclair Stylecraft: The Employer & First Suspects

[05:02] – [07:13]

• Clover visits Sinclair Stylecraft, the dress manufacturer where Hart worked.
• Meets Justin Sinclair (the boss), Elizabeth Sinclair (designer), and gets their impressions of Hart—admired for his bright attitude but somewhat annoying due to his ambition and flirtatiousness.
• Underlying tension between the characters, especially between Elizabeth and others.

Notable Exchange:

Clover: “Tell me about Thomas Hart.”
Sinclair: “Oh, Tommy, Tommy, Tommy... Tommy was a bright youngster... I'm sad, Mr. Clover. Don't laugh at me. I'm horrified.” — Justin Sinclair [05:10]

3. Tommy Hart's Residence: Searching for Clues

[07:13] – [09:48]

• Clover speaks to Jonesy, the building’s eccentric, nosy superintendent.
• Finds a large sum of money ($500) hidden in Tommy’s belongings and a calendar with a mysterious address.
• Jonesy describes Tommy’s visitors: a suspicious man in an apron and a woman in silk stockings and high-strapped shoes.

4. The Sinclairs' Home: Broader Social Connections

[09:48] – [12:03]

• Clover interviews Elizabeth Sinclair during a canasta game; the address from Hart’s belongings leads here.
• Elizabeth confirms Hart and his girlfriend (Ginny Morrow) were invited for dinner the previous night, characterizes Ginny as an outsider in her social circle.

Memorable Moment:

“The girl Tommy brought with him to dinner. That bleach blonde from the shipping department—in my house. Imagine why my husband tolerates it.” — Elizabeth Sinclair [11:24]

5. Ginny Morrow: The Girlfriend's Story

[12:57] – [14:47]

• Ginny, brash and self-aware, provides her opinion on Tommy’s character, describes herself as never belonging in the Sinclair world.
• She alludes to resentment against Stella Croft, the house designer, and introduces more about workplace dynamics.

Notable Line:

“You ever had it? The feeling that you’ve been taken someplace just so you could insult people with your presence?” — Ginny Morrow [13:55]

6. The Murder of Stella Croft: The Plot Thickens

[14:47] – [15:44]

• Clover tracks down Stella Croft at the Pantages Theatre, only to discover her murdered backstage—also stabbed.
• New murder links the cases, escalating urgency and suspicion.

7. Revealing the Sinclairs' Secrets

[16:34] – [20:13]

• Clover returns to the Sinclair residence, pressing for information on Justin Sinclair's relationship with Stella Croft.
• Elizabeth details Justin’s frequent “business” dealings with Stella, dinners, trips, and concedes Stella's role in their prosperity—but denies illicit involvement.

Exchange Illustrating Married Tension:

“You want to know about Justin’s friendship with Stella, is that it?” — Elizabeth Sinclair
“You won’t mind if I tell him, Justin?” — Elizabeth Sinclair
“Not a bit of it, baby doll.” — Justin Sinclair [18:14, 18:26]

8. Clover Attacked: Brush with Death

[21:06] – [24:22]

• Searching Stella’s apartment, Clover is stabbed—paralleling the earlier crimes—survives thanks to medical aid and wit.
• Discussion with Dr. Sinski reveals key detail: Tommy Hart and Stella Croft were briefly married in Maryland, but marriage annulled next day.

Insightful Dialogue:

“Tommy Hart and Estella Croft were once married... in that place in Maryland. That unties it.” — Dr. Sinski [24:51]

9. The Confrontation & Confession: Motive Unmasked

[25:25] – [28:14]

• Clover confronts the Sinclairs at their business. Justin eventually confesses to killing Tommy Hart out of rage and blackmail—Tommy was extorting him with a fake marriage certificate involving Stella.
• Elizabeth Sinclair—protecting her husband and family—confesses to murdering Stella Croft, who had begun to blackmail them, and attempted to kill Clover when he came too close.

Dramatic Confession:

“For what she was doing. Going to my home, to my husband, to my boy, to my boy’s name. Yes, and I stabbed you, too, for what you were doing to us. I killed. I’d kill again.” — Elizabeth Sinclair [27:51]

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Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• On Broadway’s Mood:
  “Broadway’s my Beat. From Times Square to Columbus Circle, the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world.” — Detective Danny Clover [01:21]
• On Social Division:
  “You ever had it? The feeling that you’ve been taken someplace just so you could insult people with your presence just by being in a place you don’t belong?” — Ginny Morrow [13:55]
• On Motive and Desperation:
  “You didn’t think, did you, Justin? You just didn’t think when you started it. When you saw that Stella, you didn’t think.” — Elizabeth Sinclair [28:02]
• Closing Noir Reflection:
  “In the April night, Broadway echoes with sounds heard only in darkness. The whispers that speckle places where there’s no sun.” — Detective Danny Clover [28:46]

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Important Segment Timestamps

• [01:21] Opening narration and murder discovery
• [05:02] Interview with Justin Sinclair and Elizabeth Sinclair
• [09:48] Interview at the Sinclairs’ home
• [12:57] Ginny Morrow’s perspective on Hart and social status
• [14:47] Discovery of Stella Croft’s murder
• [16:34] Second visit to the Sinclairs; motives begin to emerge
• [21:06] Clover interviews Ginny in Stella's apartment, is stabbed
• [24:51] Dr. Sinski reveals Hart and Stella’s past marriage
• [25:53] Final confrontation: Justin and Elizabeth’s confessions
• [28:46] Final noir soliloquy

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Conclusion

Set against the vivid, dangerous pulse of Broadway, “The Thomas Hart Murder Case” explores themes of ambition, resentment, and survival in the privacy-shattered lives of the garment district. The double homicide, rooted in blackmail and shattered illusions, not only exposes the personal failures of the Sinclair family but leaves the city forever altered by betrayal’s cost. Through taut dialogue and moody atmospherics, the episode stands as a classic of noir detective drama.

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Transcript

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[Detective Danny Clover]

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[Justin Sinclair]

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[Detective Danny Clover]

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[Detective Danny Clover]

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[Justin Sinclair]

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[Elizabeth Sinclair]

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[Narrator/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. Broadway's my Beat. With Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover. The day without color is only six hours old and the restlessness begins to eat at Broadway. The waiting, the longing for the nighttime begins to gnaw like hunger, like thirst. Because Broadway's night is a banquet loaded with delicacies. The scarlet wine of neon, the forbidden fruit of a trumpet scream, the lukewarm stew offered on a tin plate through an alley doorway. But Broadway's day, that's the drab time, kid. The empty time. The time of leaning against sun warmed stone and waiting. And you wait with the rest of Broadway. Because it'll come. Something will come. And it does. You know that. Because Broadway nudges you with an elbow. Winks, says, follow me, kid. The day has turned bright, and it's not far away where the day is bright. On 39th street, just off 7th Avenue in the Garment center. The crowd is already there ahead of you, toothpicking its last bite of lunch, digesting the spectacle of a man sprawled on the pavement. The dress rack he'd been pushing lay beneath him. There was a scissors in his back. His blood sketched a new pattern on the bright flowered silk prints. And the man, heavy in the shoulders, pushing his face into the crowd so you can be close to it, so he can fill you in on it.

[Mugavan]

You got here fast, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I was shown the way. Who is he? Muggleman?

[Mugavan]

His wallet says he's Thomas Hart. Social Security card, YMCA membership. It all says he was Thomas Hart. These people know him? We call him by name. You don't answer for 20 minutes. Now, I'd say.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Any of them see it happen?

[Mugavan]

No. I asked around. They were all busy with shop talk, with wife and kid talk, with union talk. First thing they noticed was Sinclair Style. Kraft's new sample spring line was spilled in the gutter. They kept the cabs and trucks from running over the dresses.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Sinclair what?

[Mugavan]

Sinclair style Craft. See on the dress labels?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Huh?

[Mugavan]

A dress manufacturing place up the street. He worked there. They all told me that. And I didn't even ask.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Keep him back, Mugavan. They're waiting for us to act something out. Just keep them back. After a while, one of the onlookers glanced at his watch, hurried away. Lunch hour was over and he'd be the big man around the water cooler. This afternoon, something big just happened to him. He'd seen a man with a scissors in his back and a girl looked up from the pavement, smiled across the crowd to a boy in a sports shirt and walked away slowly. The woman in a youthful hat took her place. In a few minutes, it was all over. Two men threw a blanket over the face of Thomas Hart and carried him away. Then work to do. Thomas Hart worked for Sinclair stylecraft. Ladies in Mrs. Dresses down the street. Go there. Four flights up on a freight elevator, nod to the gray haired man holding the wheel in a comic book. Get no answer through the rows of sewing machines where 100 women spend eight hours a day with a dress pattern and a bobbin, then finally ushered into the office of the man of destiny for the fourth floor, Mr. Justin Sinclair.

[Justin Sinclair]

Sit down, Mr. Clover.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Danny Clover. Police.

[Justin Sinclair]

About what happened downstairs.

[Detective Danny Clover]

That's right.

[Justin Sinclair]

You want a cigarette?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Tell me about Thomas Hart.

[Justin Sinclair]

Sure, I'll tell you. You don't mind that I'm smoking, do you? Oh, Tommy, Tommy, Tommy.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What's that supposed to tell me?

[Justin Sinclair]

Look, I've been in business for a long time. A man gets hard driving for a dollar. Takes a time like this to make me know what kind of a man I've gotten to be.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'm asking you to weep for the boy, Mr. Sinclair.

[Justin Sinclair]

I wish I could weep. That's just what I mean. I've forgotten how. Tommy was a bright youngster. So what if he was pushing dress racks around? I did it once. Tommy was interested. Tommy asked questions about the business. I'm sad, Mr. Clover. Don't laugh at me. I'm more than Sad. I'm horrified, Mr. Sinclair. Well, come in. Come in. Stella. Ms. Crawford. Mr. Clover. Mr. Clover is from the police.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Yes, they told me in the shop a policeman was here.

[Justin Sinclair]

That's why I'm glad you did. He wants to know all about Tommy.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

What do you Want to know, Mr. Clover?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Well, as much as you can tell me. Mostly why somebody murdered him.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Tommy was an errand boy and pushed dress racks. I'm sorry he's dead, but frankly, he annoyed me.

[Justin Sinclair]

How, Mr. Clover? Come now, look at Miss Croft, will you? Just look at her.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Now I'm looking. Does it annoy you, Ms. Croft?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Not yet. If you came into my office and stuck stared at me sitting at my drawing board, then if you grinned, then if you winked.

[Justin Sinclair]

You really couldn't blame Tommy, Ms. Krog. Natural normal.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Don't you do it, Mr. Sinclair.

[Justin Sinclair]

Quite a girl, huh? Quite a young lady.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What else about Tommy?

[Ginny Morrow]

Nothing. Not a thing.

[Justin Sinclair]

Me either.

[Detective Danny Clover]

All right, where does he live?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

I can tell you that. Follow me out. I'll get the address for you from our personnel man.

[Justin Sinclair]

Yes. You'll find Sinclair Stylecraft Cooperative. Mr. Clover. Anything. Anything at all.

[Jonesy]

Next time knock soft, mister. You want something from Jonesy, the keeper of the garbage pails, the collective wrench. You'll knock soft.

[Detective Danny Clover]

They told me Thomas Hart lived here. Show me his room.

[Jonesy]

Tommy. Tommy's dead. It's been the topic of the day for the tenants. How? Tommy's dead. He don't need nobody in his room. Now he's dead. Can't use him.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Look closely, Jonesy. This is how a policeman looks who wants something, huh?

[Jonesy]

I don't care what your sickness is. Next time knock soft. Come on.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You knew Tommy? No.

[Jonesy]

Sure I knew him. He never wrapped his leavings in the newspaper. Not even a greasy brown paper bag. What else do you need to know about a man?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Sometimes you'd open your door and peep at his callers.

[Jonesy]

Sure I peep. You don't peep when you get the chance.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Back off, Jones. Who'd you see once?

[Jonesy]

It was a guy with a dirty white apron and a sack of beer cans. Up these stairs he went whistling. Give me a minute. I'll tell you what he was whistling.

[Detective Danny Clover]

No one else?

[Jonesy]

Sure, sure. Someone else with silk stockings and high strapped shoes. But living as I live in a basement apartment. It got away from me before I could see her face. That never took a moment's happiness away from me. Not seeing that face. What do I. Yeah, Tommy's room. Crummy tenant, wasn't it? Crumbs bring exterminators. Exterminators cost the management money. Take your hands off Tommy's suitcase.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Something in this shirt pocket.

[Jonesy]

What? Nose tissues. Tommy was always with nose tissues. I forgot to tell you.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Money, 20s, tens, $500.

[Jonesy]

All's in there is a wash basin. That calendar you're looking at, I got piled downstairs. You can take your choice. Don't rob a dead man's dream.

[Detective Danny Clover]

There's an address scribbled under the picture. Directions.

[Jonesy]

Let me see. Let me see. Out of the way. It's address, all right. You think?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Knock soft, Jonesy. You want something? Knock soft.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Yes?

[Detective Danny Clover]

The name plate on the door says this is the residence of Justin and Elizabeth Sinclair. Is that right?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

No, I'm Mrs. Sinclair. What is it you want?

[Detective Danny Clover]

My name's Danny Clover.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

I'm from the police. You're from the police? Well, come in, please. My husband phoned and said a policeman might be around. Oh, my. Girls. Girls, we're raided. Oh, I was just fooling. No, Mr. Clover. Didn't come here to break up our canasta game, did you, Mr. Clover? We're only playing for a 20th. This is Mrs. Westfall, Mrs. Meston and Ms. Natalie. Now, Miss Natalie does our hair after the game, she wins us.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Can we talk someplace, Mrs. Sinclair?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Of course we can. Deal me out. Girls, in here. We'll close the door so we won't be disturbed. Now, now, tell me all about it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

All right. I came from Tommy Hart's room a little while ago. He had some directions penciled on a calendar. The directions brought me here.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Well, but I don't understand. Tommy's dead.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Maybe Tommy scribbled those directions before he was murdered.

[Justin Sinclair]

Huh?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Oh, of course.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Surely, then Tommy must have been here on some occasion or another.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Of course he was.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What was the occasion?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Dinner. You'd think I'd get someone in to cook dinner, wouldn't you? But I didn't. I never do. No, I still cook, Mr. Clover. Like I did before all this happened. All this, you know, left French provincial furniture and the set of books and sending my son to private school.

[Detective Danny Clover]

When was the last time Tommy was here?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Did my husband tell you? Why, it was last night. Just last night. Tommy was sitting in that chair you're sitting in now with that girl draped over him, lighting his cigars and waiting on him hand and foot.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What girl did that?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

The girl Tommy brought with him to dinner. That bleach blonde from the shipping department in my house. Imagine why my husband tolerates.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What was the girl's name?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Ginny. Ginny Morrow.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I think she works for your husband.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

I Told you she did. In the shipping department. Checker or something. I don't know. He invited Tommy over because Tommy's bright. Maybe someday he could learn the business. But why the girl? I don't know.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What else can you tell me about Tommy?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

He ate everything that was put on the plate in front of him.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What else?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

What else? Mr. Clover, I'm a married woman. I've got a son taller than me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

She took me by the hand to prove it. Back to the canasta table. The son was doing fine, wasn't he, girls? Wasn't he? And her life with Mr. Sinclair was all a girl could ask for, wasn't it, girls? What right had a policeman to come nosing around, spoiling everything? The card game, the hairdos, making the canopies grow cold, letting the ginger ale turn flat just because someone stuck a pair of scissors in her husband's errand boy? So I explained the rights of the dead. The girls cried, scooped up the cards, shuffled, re dealt. And I got out at Sinclair Stylecraft, Ladies and misses Dresses. A woman finished a seam, took the rimless glasses off her nose, rubbed her eyes, told me Jenny Morrow Shipping was on the loading platform having a smoke.

[Ginny Morrow]

You can keep looking at me, mister. The view is for free. Teeth, courtesy Dr. West. Miracle tough toothbrush. Hair, courtesy peroxide. 10%. Eyes, cheeks. Figure courtesy, careful planning.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You're Jenny Morrow for Eugenia.

[Ginny Morrow]

Mom called me Eugenia. Found the name in a book someone threw in the trash can. Dramatic, ain't it?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Some questions I want to ask you, Jenny. Questions about?

[Ginny Morrow]

You're a policeman, ain't you?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah. Tell me about Tommy Hart, mine.

[Ginny Morrow]

Hostess of last night. Blabbed to you, huh? Okay.

[Detective Danny Clover]

How long did you know Tommy?

[Ginny Morrow]

Long enough to slap him a couple of times. Slap his mouth. Then he says he'll make up to me. He'll take me to the boss's house for dinner. Big deal.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You didn't enjoy it.

[Ginny Morrow]

Here I am practically spilling my life's blood on you, and I don't even know your name.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Danny Clover.

[Ginny Morrow]

It suits you. No. No, I didn't enjoy the supper, Danny. I got the feeling I'm crazy. I'm making it up out of my own head.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What feeling, Jim?

[Ginny Morrow]

You ever had it? The feeling that you've been taken someplace just so you could insult people with your presence just by being in a place you don't belong? It's an insult just by being what you are.

[Detective Danny Clover]

But Mr. And Mrs. Sinclair invited you, Ginny.

[Ginny Morrow]

Tommy twisted an arm. That's how come I'm Invited.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Big deal.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Tommy did that to you and he's your steady boyfriend.

[Ginny Morrow]

Oh, steady. What's steady?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

That Daisy.

[Ginny Morrow]

Go pin on Stella the designer. Me? I was the last name on the list.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Stella Croft.

[Ginny Morrow]

Stella the designer of designs.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Where is she?

[Ginny Morrow]

By the Pantages Theatre on 42nd street in the third row on the aisle. An arrangement we got with the management. So Stella can steal the latest Paris creations from the Parisian actors. Stella has a life. Maybe it'll come to me someday. I'll work on.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Was a five minute walk to 42nd street in the Pantages Theater. On the stage, a man in a plaid dinner jacket was having a little trouble hoisting a girl to his shoulders. But when he did, they were fine together, circling faultlessly to the music. By the time I got down front, the man was holding his partner over his head, spinning, smiling and turning red. Stella Cross is there, all right. Pad and pencil poised, staring at the act. The dancers bowed. Everybody applauded. Everybody was happy. Not Stella. Stella with a scissor stuck in her side, lifeless Stella dead. Ste.

[Narrator/Announcer]

You are listening to Broadway's My Beat, written by Morton Fine and David Friedkin and starring Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover. Every Sunday evening, CBS brings you two of its top comedy stars, Jack Benny and Eve Arden. It makes no difference where you live, whom you know, what your job is. Everyone immediately feels at home with Eve Arden's romantic Harris schoolteacher, and with Jack's careful spending, perennially youthful portrait of himself. CBS cordially invites you to join them this Sunday again, when Eve arden plays our Ms. Brooks on most of these same stations and Jack Benny and his gang are heard on them all. Now the second act of Elliot Lewis's production of Broadway's My Beat.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Of an evening in springtime. Broadway stands on a street corner, sips its penny plane and counts its blessings. The Yanks, the Giants, the bums. Only a 10 cent subway ride's distance and usually worth it. There's bottled orange juice from sun kissed California to be tasted for a nickel. And the rides are getting painted at Coney. And the moon that rocks down over Manhattan in April is a special kind of moon. And the music that lilts from doorways is a special music. The girls are golden. There's more too. It blinks around the Translux and demands your attention for 10 seconds. Girl stabbed at the Pantages Theater. Police seek early arrest. Especially me.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Oh, you. I was expecting the Mestons.

[Detective Danny Clover]

More canasta, Mrs. Sinclair.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

More people dead. The Mestons were coming to console us. They're good at it. Make it enjoyable. I don't suppose that's why you came. No, but you want to come into my house and ask your ugly questions?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Uh huh.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Just stand right where you are. Justin. That cop I told you about, the one who. Does he have a right to come in?

[Justin Sinclair]

Of course, Elizabeth, of course. The man has all the rights in the world.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Yes, dear. Justin says you may come in.

[Justin Sinclair]

Sit down, Mr. Clover. Take the world off your back. Sit down and talk to Elizabeth and me. Cigars there at your fingertip. Anything you need, ask Elizabeth for it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Maybe Mrs. Sinclair would like to make you some coffee, a sandwicher, Anything that'll.

[Justin Sinclair]

Take her out of there, huh? Mr. Clover, don't be embarrassed. You can talk in front of Elizabeth. She knows more about the man Sinclair than I know. Correct, baby doll?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

You want to know about Justin's friendship with Stella, is that it, Mr. Clover? Before the scissors episode, I mean.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Well, that's it. I didn't think we'd get around to it so easy, but that's it.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

You won't mind if I tell him, Justin?

[Justin Sinclair]

Not a bit of it, baby doll. Just hand me a cigar first. Thank you.

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[Detective Danny Clover]

Ready to share your message with the world?

[Justin Sinclair]

Start your podcast journey with Podbean.

[Podbean Announcer]

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[Detective Danny Clover]

Thousands of businesses and enterprises trust Podbean to launch their podcasts.

[Podbean Announcer]

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[Justin Sinclair]

Use PodBean AI to optimize your podcast.

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[Justin Sinclair]

Use Podbean to distribute your podcast everywhere.

[Podbean Announcer]

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[Justin Sinclair]

All right. Thank you, Elizabeth.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Anytime. Anytime, Mrs. Sinclair.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

This friendship, as you called it, it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Was you, Mrs. Sinclair. I remember because it surprised me. The name you gave him.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

You thought it. There was nothing between Stella Croft and my husband Justin, except the normal relationship of an employer to his employee.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Cons over dress designs during working hours, approval, disapproval, putting in a production, the counter signing of the weekly paycheck. Nothing more, Mr. Sinclair.

[Justin Sinclair]

There was more, she'll tell you.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

There were the times my husband Justin took her to fashion shows, to dinners for the buyers at expensive places. There was the time of a manufacturers convention in Atlantic City. Justin called me every morning, every night. Stella was pretty. Some people thought lovely. She brought us customers, made us richer. That was what was between Stella and my husband. Nothing more.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You don't know why she's dead?

[Justin Sinclair]

No, we don't know. But it saddens us, Mr. Clover.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Send him home, Justin. I'M tired. I want to sleep. If the Mestons come, tell him I'm sick. They'll understand.

[Detective Danny Clover]

More legwork now. The pinching up of the bits and scraps that people leave behind. Get as many as you can and arrange them chronologically. By emotion, by habit, by appetite. Draw a line, one from the other and peep at a life now nearly dead. For instance. Go now to the apartment of Stella Croft. Walk the corridor that once brought Stella home. Turn the knob of her door. The girl in the room was wearing slacks. She watched me close the door. Blew a smoke ring from her cigarette. Watched it die. Then she smiled at me.

[Ginny Morrow]

Hi, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What are you doing here, Ginny?

[Ginny Morrow]

Taking the tour. Seeing how a girl is when she works in the front office of Sinclair Stylecraft.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Gosh.

[Ginny Morrow]

Quilted blue satin.

[Detective Danny Clover]

How did you get in here?

[Ginny Morrow]

Did you see the superintendent downstairs? Yeah. Did his eyes light up when he saw you? Uh huh.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Jenny, how well did you know Stella Croft?

[Ginny Morrow]

Who gets to know a dame like that if you're another dame? Look, Danny, I'm not the type to be a Pollyanna. My mother told me. Jenny, never be a Pollyanna. Stand on your own two feet. You don't like somebody, don't like them. That's how I felt about Stella to.

[Detective Danny Clover]

A T. Because she had all this. Because she was going out with Mr. Sinclair.

[Ginny Morrow]

So I was jealous. But this apartment is something to get jealous about.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You're going to try your luck with Sinclair.

[Ginny Morrow]

He's already noticed, Danny. The day that I wore that black velveteen with the peasant blouse, he spent practically the whole morning in the shipping department giving me a personal supervise. You want me for anything more, Danny?

[Detective Danny Clover]

No. Just be around where I can find you, Jenny.

[Ginny Morrow]

Oh, sure, Danny. I really would, Danny. I'd drop all my appointments.

[Detective Danny Clover]

The apartment looked like Jenny hadn't touched anything. Place was impeccable. Slick like Stella Croft had been. Lacquered furniture, highly waxed. And full length mirrors. I walked back into her bedroom, around it, fingering this and that. The small, intimate souvenirs a girl like Stella collects. Then over to a Pullman closet, opened it. Wondered for an instant why a woman needed so many shoes. Wondered. Wondered why it hurt so much. The brightness of it, the pain, the sharpness slipping so easily into my back. Then gave it up because I couldn't hold on to it.

[Justin Sinclair]

And now, the finishing touch, Danny. The claim to fame of Dr. Sinski. In medical school, it was always commented upon how Dr. Sinski finished off his handiwork.

[Detective Danny Clover]

It's the bedside manner. I don't need it.

[Dr. Sinski]

That's right. You don't need it, Danny.

[Justin Sinclair]

Hold on to something, Danny. It'll hurt.

[Dr. Sinski]

Yeah, yeah. Hold on to something, Danny. To me it's gonna hurt. He held onto something to me and it still hurt him. What is it with you, Dr. Sinski? Maybe you need a refresher course in adult medical education.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Unruffle your feathers, Mother. Thank you. I'm all right.

[Dr. Sinski]

Listen to him, Doctor. Last night he got a hole in his back from unsharpened scissors. And this morning he tells me he's all right.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Okay if I go back to my office, Dr. Sinski?

[Justin Sinclair]

You'll need rest, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'll bear it in mind.

[Justin Sinclair]

Check me in the morning, you hear, Danny? You hear?

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah. That piles up, doesn't it, Doctor?

[Justin Sinclair]

What, dad? What are you talking about?

[Detective Danny Clover]

I'll count out the times you've eased the pain. I'll let you know.

[Justin Sinclair]

Get him out of here, Gino.

[Dr. Sinski]

Yeah, yeah. Come on, let's go.

[Jonesy]

Danny.

[Dr. Sinski]

I'll go get permission from the captain to give us sick leave. Then I'll conjure up a squad car and we'll surprise the Mrs. Sergeant Artaglia in the middle of a mozzarella. And then we'll salve our wound together.

[Detective Danny Clover]

And then what made two people die like that? You know, Tommy Hart, Stella Croft.

[Dr. Sinski]

Danny. Danny, you disappoint me. You are thinking on your sick leave time.

[Detective Danny Clover]

What ties it together, Gino?

[Dr. Sinski]

Danny, if I tell you, you promise to let me manage your sickness, huh? What ties it is Tommy Hart and Estella Croft were once married in that place in Maryland. You know, on that quick marriage plan. I ain't making it up, Danny. Mugavin dug it out of the records.

[Detective Danny Clover]

It was a secret between you two.

[Dr. Sinski]

Well, Danny, it don't mean nothing. They got on a note the next day. That unties it. Danny, you're jeopardizing your good host.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Danny. Good morning.

[Ginny Morrow]

Yes, sir, Can I help you? Hi, Danny. Hey, look at me.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Yeah, look at you. Since when they move you out of the shipping department into the reception desk?

[Ginny Morrow]

Since this a.m. i told you, I got supervised into it.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Tell Mr. Sinclair I want to see him.

[Ginny Morrow]

Sure, Danny. Watch me. See?

[Justin Sinclair]

What is it?

[Ginny Morrow]

Ms. Morrow, there is out here at this moment the gentleman of the Police Department, a Mr. Danny Clover. Very good to that door, Danny.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Thanks. Hello, Mr. Sinclair.

[Justin Sinclair]

I'm a busy man, Mr. Clover, but I always have time to talk to you.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Mr. Sinclair, how much of your affairs can you get in order in the next 15 minutes?

[Justin Sinclair]

In my business, we never talk in riddles, it's how much.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Why?

[Justin Sinclair]

When things a man can answer. What's on your mind?

[Detective Danny Clover]

You, Tommy, Hart, Stella?

[Justin Sinclair]

They worked for me, Mr. Clover, and they died. I'm going to pay for their funerals. And I'm going to find out if they had families. They'll be taken care of. We have a fund toward that.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Tell the people at headquarters it might make an impression.

[Justin Sinclair]

Honestly. Honestly. Now, I don't know what you're talking about.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Let's stop kidding each other, Sinclair. You're a man with tastes from the lines of women's dresses to a lacquered apartment to a little employee who's now your receptionist. From Stella Croft to Ginny Morrow. Better find out if Ginny had a husband.

[Justin Sinclair]

I still don't follow him.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Then I'll tell you. It's called the badger game.

[Justin Sinclair]

Listen to me, mister.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You listen to me. Tommy and Stella weren't married. Did you know that? You didn't know that?

[Justin Sinclair]

I thought I saw the certificate of marriage. The justice of the peace who married them.

[Detective Danny Clover]

I thought marriage annulled the next morning. Badger game. Stella invited you to make a play for her. You bit Tommy, walks in waves. A certificate of marriage. You pay him money, invitations to your home. He gets greedier and greedier. So you kill him?

[Justin Sinclair]

I didn't have to. You don't know what it was, Clover. That boy grinning into my face, taking over my house, making me.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

What is it, Justin? What's the matter? What happened to him?

[Justin Sinclair]

Make him understand. Make him understand.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Mrs. Sinclair, your husband just confessed to killing Tommy Hart.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

Wouldn't you. Wouldn't you kill him? It's all right, Justin. I'm here now. It's all right.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You got Tommy out of the way. Sinclair. Why did you kill Stella, Elizabeth?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

I said it was all right, Justin.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Well, I'll tell you why. Stella knew you killed Tommy. It didn't worry her very much. She just upped the blackmail ante. St. Clair. That's why you killed Stella.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

He didn't. He didn't. He didn't.

[Detective Danny Clover]

You did.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

For what she was doing. Going to my home, to my husband, to my boy, to my boy's name. Yes, and I stabbed you, too, for what you were doing to us. I killed. I'd kill again.

[Justin Sinclair]

What'll we do about the boy?

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

You didn't think, did you, Justin? You just didn't think when you started it. When you saw that Stella, you didn't think.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Please. Please.

[Elizabeth Sinclair]

The boy will be all right. We have money. More than you had when you started. He'll be all right, Justin. He's going to be all right.

[Detective Danny Clover]

In the April night, Broadway echoes with sounds heard only in darkness. The whispers that speckle places where there's no sun. There's a touch on your coat. You turn, there's no one, nothing. Only the trail of dust on your shoulder. It's Broadway. The gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world. Broadway. My beat.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Broadway's my Beat. Stars Larry Thor as Detective Danny Clover. With Charles Calvert as Tartaglia 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 cast, Irene Tedro was heard as Elizabeth Sinclair, Herb Butterfield as Justin Sinclair, Sylvia Sims as Ginny Morrow, Mary Shipp as Stella Croft, and Sidney Miller as Jo. If you're in the mood for mysteries, you can try CBS almost any old evening. And there's a top notch thriller on hand for you tomorrow. And every Sunday, it's Charlie Wilde. Monday nights, the top Hollywood stars appear in original thrillers on the Hollywood Star Playhouse. Thursdays, there's a swell night for mystery and thrills on CBS. Suspense, Mr. Keen and the FBI in peace and War are heard on most of these same stations. Stay tuned now for Sing It Again, which follows immediately on most of these same CBS stations. Joe Walters speaking. This is cbs, where you laugh at Jack Benny every Sunday night. The Columbia Broadcasting System.

[Detective Danny Clover]

Sa.