Barrie Craig Confidential Investigator 51-11-21 Murder in Wax

Summary

---

Podcast Summary: Barrie Craig Confidential Investigator – "Murder in Wax"

Harold’s Old Time Radio | October 23, 2025
Episode Date: November 21, 1951 (original airdate)
Host: Harold’s Old Time Radio (curated rebroadcast)

---

Overview

This episode revives the classic detective tale "Murder in Wax" from Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator, a radio drama from the golden age. In this story, private eye Barry Craig becomes involved in a bizarre murder case where a murdered man is quickly immortalized in wax for a grisly amusement park exhibit. A peculiar parrot, an ambitious reporter, and dark secrets tied to wax figures send Craig deep into a layered mystery of mistaken identity, blackmail, and long-buried crimes.

---

Key Discussion Points & Plot Progression

1. Setting the Stage: Craig Meets Mona and a Parrot

• [00:49-03:00]

  • Barry Craig, needing some positive press, allows reporter Mona Gale to profile him for a magazine.
  • Their stroll through Craig’s old neighborhood is interrupted when a young boy tries to sell them a bloodied parrot found on the docks.
  • Mona observes, “He’s sick… look at the blood on his foot” (Mona Gale, 03:09).
  • Craig notes the parrot isn’t hurt—implying the blood is not the bird's.

• Quote:

  • Craig: “Funny, parrot hasn't been hurt. Not a scratch on him I can see.” (03:17)

2. The Parrot’s Deadly Connection: The Morgue & Investigation Leads

• [04:18-06:15]

  • Police identify the man found dead on the docks (beside an empty bird cage) as Vince Lorimer, newly arrived from Honduras.
  • Craig inspects the parrot’s cage, noticing the padlock was broken off deliberately, not by accident, raising suspicions.

• Quote:

  • Craig: “Not enough concussion for a padlock to snap off… The padlock didn’t break off. It was broken off deliberately.” (05:29-05:43)

3. The Wax Museum Mystery

• [07:01-10:03]

  • Craig receives a circular advertising a new wax exhibit: a tableau of the very murder that happened mere hours before, depicting Lorimer’s death uncannily well.
  • He and Mona Gale visit the Starbright Park Museum of Murder, run by the brusque Dolly Flanders.
  • They discover the wax exhibit of the murder—with the killer’s face hidden beneath a hood and the victim modeled in detail—including the parrot cage.
  • A mysterious gunman ambushes them, forces Mona to burn the hood off the wax killer figure, then flees, knocking Craig unconscious.

• Quote:

  • Craig: “How could a wax exhibit already be set up for the customers less than 24 hours after the murder happened? … I’m not only being invited to get a look at Vince Larimer being shot, but also at who is shooting him. All this and wax.” (07:41-08:01)

4. Layers of Identity: The Case Unfolds

• [13:04-18:21]
  • Dolly claims she rents her exhibits from a wax sculptor, Fernando Scala.
  • Craig and Mona question Scala, who denies modeling a specific face for the killer—he simply concealed the head under the hood because he didn’t know the identity.
  • An anonymous phone call warns Craig to stop pursuing the investigation.

5. The Key Clues: Cemetery Revelations

• [18:40-21:39]

  • Lieutenant Trav Rogers meets Craig in a cemetery, pointing to a gravestone for “Sam Tracy”—the same fingerprints as the late Lorimer.
  • It’s revealed Sam Tracy faked his death in 1945 after a $100,000 safe robbery (from stockbroker Rufus Scott). The “widow” was Dolly, now Dolly Flanders.
  • Whoever’s in the grave isn’t Sam Tracy—Tracy assumed the identity of Vince Lorimer and returned.

• Quote:

  • Rogers: “Our Vince Lorimer was also named Sam Tracy once.” (19:58-20:03)

6. Closing the Case: Blackmail, Paranoia, and Confession

• [22:04-24:49]

  • Craig confronts Howard Crump, new owner of the wax museum, deducing that his claustrophobia led him to release the parrot and canary from their cages.
  • Under pressure, Crump admits he can't stand confinement, revealing his guilt.
  • The pieces fall into place: Crump (real identity: Rufus Scott) arranged the robbery, blackmailed by Dolly after he killed Tracy/Lorimer.

• Quote:

  • Craig: “You hate cages, don’t you, Crump? That’s why you let parrots out of cages. You can’t stand seeing anything caged.” (23:30-23:36)

• Mona’s Summary Moment:

  • Mona tries to ensure she has the whole story correct for her article. Craig delays, hinting at a budding romance.

7. Denouement & Final Twist

• [25:12-26:44]

  • The insurance investigator Sandy Dowell—who tirelessly chased Tracy years ago—had staged the fake burial and ultimately was the gunman who attacked Craig in the museum.
  • There’s a playful moment as Mona and Craig share a rapport, capping a fast-paced, twisty mystery.

• Quote:

  • “Just one footnote to murder… The museum almost all it needs now is the clinch.” (26:03-26:22)

---

Most Memorable Quotes (with Attribution and Timestamps)

• “One kind of free lodging that leaves everyone cold, folks, is when it’s yours. By courtesy of the city morgue.”
  — Barry Craig (00:11)

• “The padlock didn’t break off. It was broken off deliberately.”
  — Barry Craig (05:43)

• “How could a wax exhibit already be set up… less than 24 hours after the murder happened?”
  — Barry Craig (07:41)

• “You hate cages, don’t you, Crump? That’s why you let parrots out of cages. You can’t stand seeing anything caged.”
  — Barry Craig (23:30)

• “Our Vince Lorimer was also named Sam Tracy once.”
  — Trav Rogers (20:03)

• “Just one footnote to murder. Dolly ordered that wax exhibit… It was her way of forcing Crump to buy her museum.”
  — Barry Craig (26:03)

---

Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:00–03:00: Barry meets Mona, discovers the parrot
• 04:18–06:15: Morgue scene, investigation begins
• 07:01–10:03: Visit to the wax museum, wax murder scene, gunman attacks
• 13:04–14:38: Interview with Dolly about the wax exhibit’s source
• 16:32–18:21: Questioning sculptor Scala, threatened by anonymous call
• 18:40–21:39: Cemetery reveal—Lorimer’s real identity as Sam Tracy
• 22:04–24:49: Crump’s guilt, claustrophobia clue, blackmail scheme
• 25:12–26:44: Final wrap-up—insurance detective’s involvement, romantic closing banter

---

Tone & Style

The episode is packed with classic hard-boiled detective wit, zippy repartee, and atmospheric tension. Barry Craig’s inner monologue is sardonic and sharp, Mona is spirited and smart, and the supporting characters are gloriously shady. The story builds the layers of the mystery briskly, revealing clues and misdirections with a flair for melodrama and old-time radio suspense.

---

For New Listeners

You can jump in and follow the entire plot from this summary without the need to listen to the episode—every twist, clue, and character motivation is here. If you love vintage detective tales with clever twists, sly humor, and that classic radio flavor, this episode is a stellar example from the era: a murder, a parrot, wax figures, and an ending with both justice and a faint brush of romance.

---

Transcript

[Narrator/Announcer]

William Gargan stars as Barry Craig, confidential investigator.

[Barry Craig]

One kind of free lodging that leaves everyone cold, folks, is when it's yours. By courtesy of the City Mall.

[Narrator/Announcer]

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

[Barry Craig]

Barry Craig speaking. There's one little thing a confidential investigator has in common with a crooner or a tap dancer. Ballyhoo. You can't get enough of it. The right kind of publicity break with pictures, nats and your fees skyrocket. Even better than money. You promote your pick of job, scoop off the cream. I waggled me a break like that. A lady reporter, Mona Gale, assigned to follow me around by the true Life Picture magazine. An elegant redhead lucking a camera and a notebook. She'd been ordered to profile me and get the story of my life from cradle to now. But the assignment had her missed. I could see I wasn't important enough people for her.

[Mona Gale]

Is there some point to this dreary hike you've Got me on, Mr. Craig?

[Barry Craig]

Yeah, there is. Tenement row, near the dock. America's melting pot. Out of it comes governors, songwriters, booking. Look around you.

[Mona Gale]

I have looked around me.

[Barry Craig]

Then start taking notes. Darfield's Place. I was a kid on this block. That rat trap there. I played stickball off the stoop. Go ahead, sister, make with a pencil.

[Mona Gale]

Must I?

[Barry Craig]

Posterity will want to know.

[Mona Gale]

Are you naturally egotistic, Mr. Craig?

[Barry Craig]

Are you naturally a snob? I'm tired, so have a seat here on the stoop. What's better than sitting? Grand view, huh?

[Mona Gale]

Great dirty face. Children push carts. Squalor. Isn't there some other way of profiling you, Mr. Craig? Like, oh, one of those celebrated cases you perform in so heroically? Couldn't I just watch you at work?

[Barry Craig]

Sure, if I had a case, which right now I haven't. Come on, beautiful. Get the feel of this block. Imagine back to me as a kid. That kid over there reading the comics. Now, he could be me once upon a time.

[Mona Gale]

How about that weird looking boy carrying the parrot?

[Barry Craig]

Boy carrying a what?

[Mona Gale]

Parrot.

[Barry Craig]

Well, yes, what do you know? The kid is carrying a parrot.

[Mona Gale]

And coming this way, too. He wants a pose for a before and after picture with you. Hey, want to buy a parrot, mister? For cheap, mister?

[Barry Craig]

I don't think so, sonny. He yours?

[Narrator/Announcer]

No, I found him on a dock, lost.

[Mona Gale]

He's sick.

[Barry Craig]

Sick?

[Mona Gale]

Yeah, yeah. Look at the blood on his foot.

[Barry Craig]

Yeah, yeah, it is blood. Bring him closer.

[Mona Gale]

Hey, what'd you examine him for like a doctor.

[Barry Craig]

Funny parrot hasn't been hurt. Not a scratch on him I can see.

[Mona Gale]

But the blood.

[Barry Craig]

I'll pretend it's human blood.

[Mona Gale]

Human blood, Mr. Craig.

[Barry Craig]

Yes. Now figure that.

[Mona Gale]

Oh, if only the parrot could talk. Hey, doc. Squad watch. Hey, go ahead, you tock. Don't shoot me. Don't shoot me. Is that the parrot talking or is the boy of antiloquist? Help. Lady, help.

[Barry Craig]

It's a parrot all right. Yelling bloody murder. Sit tight, sister. You hold on to that parrot.

[Mona Gale]

Where are you going?

[Barry Craig]

The telephone. Check with Lieutenant Trav Rogers at police headquarters. I want to know what bloody corpse the parrot belongs to. Could be you will be watching me work after all. Mona got to watch me work over the phone. Lieutenant Trav Rogers set up a date for the parrot to be reunited with his master. The setting for the sentimental reunion was the city morgue.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Roll him out, Ernie. The parrot belonged to him.

[Barry Craig]

Craig. Steady, molar. Who was he?

[Narrator/Announcer]

Traveled according to an identification card, Miss. Wallet. He was found on the docks beside an empty birdcage, shot to death by an unknown assailant.

[Barry Craig]

And we traced him to a banana boat.

[Narrator/Announcer]

He booked passage from Honduras to New York.

[Barry Craig]

Period. Period?

[Narrator/Announcer]

On ship. Larma kept to himself, stayed in his cabin. A mystery figure. Isn't that how a reporter would headline him? His gale.

[Barry Craig]

That parrot you two chanced across was.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Larimer's only known companion.

[Barry Craig]

Can I see the cage the parrot came in? Roger, if you must meddle. I'm being immortalized by True Life magazine, so please don't louse it up. This is the cage. How do you figure? The parrot escaped.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Trin Lorimer was shot. He dropped the cage. This padlock broke off in the fall. The cage door flew open, et cetera, et cetera.

[Barry Craig]

And the parrot got to walk, huh? No, Lieutenant, I don't think so.

[Narrator/Announcer]

You don't?

[Barry Craig]

Not enough concussion for a padlock to snap off. Larimer could only be carrying the cage a couple of feet off the ground. So look at the twist. And the wire here, where the padlock was originally secured. Hmm.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Wire is unusually twisting.

[Barry Craig]

The padlock didn't break off. It was broken off deliberately.

[Narrator/Announcer]

But why would a killer start to do that?

[Barry Craig]

Craig, I'm puzzled like you're puzzled. Any other personal belongings found in the late Vince Flowerman? Just this.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Wristwatch, pocket knife.

[Barry Craig]

The silver ring. The silver wedding ring. The end.

[Narrator/Announcer]

The dead end. A corpse, a parent, a few meaningless trinkets. Where would you go from here, Mr. Holmes?

[Barry Craig]

Oh, yes, you're working hard at lashing me up. With Mona. But it so happened a detour developed in the dead end the next morning while I was sorting my mail over coffee and sinkers in the Crosstown Manor and while waiting for the red headed Mona to show up for her day's grind. The mail was the usual garbage. Bills, all of them stamped. Final notice circulars advising me where to get my panspray, where to buy my geranium. And one circular I really stopped to read. The Starbright Park Museum of Murder exhibits in wack. The circular entitles Barry to a 50% admission discount.

[Mona Gale]

Good morning, Mr. Craig.

[Barry Craig]

The ripened friendship we've got. It's time you call me Barry.

[Mona Gale]

With a good morning kiss.

[Barry Craig]

If that's how you like to start your day.

[Mona Gale]

Look, I was assigned to you to play Boswell, Barry, not Madame Bovary. And what prey have you in store for me today?

[Barry Craig]

A trip to the Starbright Amusement Park.

[Mona Gale]

Amusement park?

[Barry Craig]

Read this circular.

[Mona Gale]

Bargain rate.

[Barry Craig]

So read where it says about the new wax exhibit.

[Mona Gale]

Oh, see? The brutal murder of Vince Lorimer. So real it will startle you.

[Barry Craig]

Hey, Vince Lorimer, our corpse of yesterday.

[Mona Gale]

But, but, but how?

[Barry Craig]

How could a wax exhibit already be set up for the customers less than 24 hours after the murder happened? Yes, and circular printed PR and in the mail. One of them in the mails to me.

[Mona Gale]

You think it was perfect.

[Barry Craig]

I'd be a dope not to think that I'm not only being invited to get a look at Vince Larimer being shot, but also at who is shooting him. All this and Wex.

[Mona Gale]

It's incredible.

[Barry Craig]

I'm in an incredible business. Beautiful. In what other business can you get an educated redhead personally assigned to us? Starbright park was a ramshackle amusement area, a stone's throw off a public highway.

[Mona Gale]

Well, here's your museum of murder. Those signs, shocking, sensational, lurid, enclosed.

[Barry Craig]

No ticket taker, no open door.

[Mona Gale]

It's boarded up.

[Barry Craig]

There's a bell here, this side door.

[Mona Gale]

What do you want?

[Barry Craig]

A word with the owner. Ladies.

[Mona Gale]

I'm the owner.

[Barry Craig]

Oh, I'm Barry Craig. This is Ms. Gale.

[Mona Gale]

So what?

[Barry Craig]

I got a circular from you in this morning's mail. It's this one.

[Mona Gale]

You and a thousand other people, mister. Everybody from A to C in the telephone directory.

[Barry Craig]

Oh, and you didn't mean the circular, especially for me?

[Mona Gale]

Are you out of your mind?

[Barry Craig]

Often the circular advertises an exhibit of the murder of a man named Vince Lorimer.

[Mona Gale]

You come to prove to me you can read?

[Barry Craig]

And also to see the exhibit.

[Mona Gale]

Another time when we're open.

[Barry Craig]

Your clothes.

[Mona Gale]

For safety repairs. The building department found 14 violations.

[Barry Craig]

Oh, come again? Wait. I want in.

[Mona Gale]

You say that like a cup.

[Barry Craig]

Invite us in. Having fun, Laura? It's Gruesome Nigger and Luke Gray in the Hussey. Dillinger bleeding all over Chicago sidewalk. Why, baby, you're holding hands.

[Mona Gale]

I got affectionate and morbid surroundings. The Vince Lorimer murder's the last one in the row. Right after Bluebeard. It is.

[Barry Craig]

Some light on the subject, please.

[Mona Gale]

I got no lights to switch on. The power battery's disconnected. Another order of the almighty building department. Here, you can use this flashlight.

[Barry Craig]

Thanks. Hey, quite a likeness, Barry.

[Mona Gale]

The victim does look like Vince Lorimer.

[Barry Craig]

Like Lorimer posed for it. Even the clothes.

[Mona Gale]

The pinstripe suit and holding a cage with the parrot still in it the.

[Barry Craig]

Minutes before the actual murder. The scene's supposed to be Miss. Or is it madam?

[Mona Gale]

It's Dolly. Dolly Flanders.

[Barry Craig]

Dolly. The hooded killer holding the gun. Why the hood?

[Mona Gale]

I don't get your question.

[Barry Craig]

Is there a head, a face under the hood?

[Mona Gale]

Yes, I guess there is.

[Barry Craig]

Model. How?

[Mona Gale]

How?

[Barry Craig]

In the likeness of the killer.

[Mona Gale]

I mean, in the likeness. How could that be?

[Barry Craig]

That's a question I'm saving for later. First, suppose you raise the hood. Get in there and raise it. Dolly.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Don't raise it. Dolly.

[Mona Gale]

Dolly.

[Barry Craig]

Voices jump you all the time in my business, Mona. You take it calmly.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Freeze as you are. Dolly. Craig.

[Barry Craig]

Yeah?

[Narrator/Announcer]

Drop that flashlight. Try beaming it at me and. Okay. Stubborn.

[Mona Gale]

Sorry he shot you.

[Barry Craig]

No bullseye on the flashlight. My wrist dead from the concussion.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Get flat on the ground, face down. Craig. And your lady friend. Be smart, Craig. From where I am, you're a clay pigeon.

[Barry Craig]

Get down, Mona. Horizontal In a wax museum. Include that in the piece you're writing.

[Mona Gale]

I'll even include it on my headstone.

[Narrator/Announcer]

You darling.

[Mona Gale]

What?

[Narrator/Announcer]

This box of matches. Pick it up. Now this newspaper. Roll the newspaper into a torch and light it.

[Mona Gale]

You slick. What shall I do now?

[Narrator/Announcer]

A wax figure holding the gun. Stick the torch under the hood and hold it there. Let's see how fast it melts.

[Barry Craig]

With the figure melted down my gun happy friend took one last precaution.

[Narrator/Announcer]

I hate working over a guy when he's down.

[Barry Craig]

But you will.

[Narrator/Announcer]

So you'll stay put while I leave.

[Barry Craig]

A bomb burst in my head, set off a chain reaction. The last thing I heard before being blown to bits was Mona screaming. I came around a long night and a hundred years later I came around. There was a face looking down on me. Pretty, with red hair, red eyes. Red eyes from crying Crying over me, Barry. And music. Bird. Music. The music, Mona.

[Mona Gale]

It's a yellow canary singing. You're in Dolly Flanders office.

[Barry Craig]

Dolly Flanders.

[Mona Gale]

Dolly, I'm not responsible for what happened out there.

[Barry Craig]

Who was he?

[Mona Gale]

I don't know any more than you do, Doc.

[Barry Craig]

Like it was he didn't want me to see the face under the hood.

[Mona Gale]

Because it was his own face. Barry, he's the man who murdered Vince Larimer.

[Barry Craig]

Yeah, the obvious conclusion. Maybe even too obvious. Dolly.

[Mona Gale]

What?

[Barry Craig]

How come a wax exhibit here dramatizes the murder that happened only yesterday?

[Mona Gale]

You tell me.

[Barry Craig]

Don't you order your own exhibits?

[Mona Gale]

No, I take what's shipped to me on a rental basis. So much a season.

[Barry Craig]

Shipped to you by whom?

[Mona Gale]

Mr. Scala. Fernando scholar, wax sculptor.

[Barry Craig]

Where do I find Scala?

[Mona Gale]

He's got a studio in Havemeyer Flats near the railroad yard. Number 179. You through? Say, Degreeing me?

[Barry Craig]

No. How come you or woman run this kind of a business? Your husband. Isn't he with you?

[Mona Gale]

How'd you know I had a husband?

[Barry Craig]

The silver wedding ring on your finger.

[Mona Gale]

Oh, well. Coming back to your first question about me and this business.

[Barry Craig]

Yes?

[Mona Gale]

I won't be in it anymore after today.

[Barry Craig]

Why not?

[Mona Gale]

I just sold it as is. Lock, stock and barrel.

[Barry Craig]

Who to?

[Mona Gale]

Do I have to answer that too?

[Barry Craig]

Not if it's a secret.

[Mona Gale]

It's no secret. Here's my copy of the bill of sale.

[Barry Craig]

Know ye by these presents that Howard Crump purchaser has this day for the.

[Mona Gale]

Sum of Mr. Howard Crump. Thinks he's going to coin a mint run in this museum as it should be run.

[Barry Craig]

Oh, he says floaty tournaments. He'll start to dress that yellow canary of yours. You ever let it out of its cage?

[Mona Gale]

Why should I do a fool thing like that?

[Barry Craig]

Hippo. Expecting visitors? Dolly Crump.

[Mona Gale]

He haunts the place. But see, I don't card nothing away now that he's bought the place. Come in. Crump.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Dolly.

[Barry Craig]

Oh, excuse me.

[Mona Gale]

This is Mr. Craig. With him is Ms. Gale.

[Barry Craig]

How'd he do? Congratulations on your purchase, Mr. Crump. Oh, you know. Yeah, Dolly was telling us. Dolly said you're convinced there's a profit in murder. Oh, that's a curious way to put it. Then you put it.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Yes, I believe a wax museum can be run profitably.

[Barry Craig]

With, of course, judicious management and promotion.

[Narrator/Announcer]

The underlying principle, Mr. Craig, in any business.

[Barry Craig]

Cut my aching head, Crunch. The head I'm taking out of here is already twice the size I came in with. Coming, Mona? Outside the wax museum in a drugstore while Mona calmed her fevered nerves with a double coat. I got the cracks in my skin dull, glued and an iodine pomade where it lumps. After that I telephone police headquarters. Hello, Lieutenant Trav Rogers. Never mind paging him, buster. A message will do from Barry Craig. Tell him to check Prince Lorimer's fingerprints with police files. Prado. Uh, they're asking more questions than I've got. Answers like Dolly had said. The Havemeyer Flat Studio. A Fernando Scholar, wax sculptor specializing in murder. Overlooked the railroad yard bite sized guy. Scholar With a mouth of a mustache and the look of a fox. With those trains. How can you concentrate on your wax modeling, Scholar?

[Narrator/Announcer]

Even better with the trains. Mr. Craig, I am filled with a wild river.

[Barry Craig]

Bear me the poetry then.

[Narrator/Announcer]

For the lady.

[Barry Craig]

Bear her the poetry too. All right.

[Narrator/Announcer]

I say only what you want me to say.

[Barry Craig]

No wonder. Where do you keep your crystal ball? Crystal ball? You identified the man who murdered Vince Laramont.

[Narrator/Announcer]

I identified him.

[Barry Craig]

Murder?

[Narrator/Announcer]

You are joking.

[Barry Craig]

You model the victim and you model the killer.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Oh, but you are surely mistaken.

[Barry Craig]

Am I surely mistaken?

[Narrator/Announcer]

I modeled the victim. Yes, from the newspaper pictures and from the imagination also. But the killer, him I did not matter.

[Barry Craig]

You didn't, huh?

[Narrator/Announcer]

Oh, just a head with no face. A head I cover up with a hood because I cannot know the face.

[Barry Craig]

Who telephoned you in advance of my coming, Scholar? Prime you on how to answer me.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Telephone me. But I swear.

[Barry Craig]

Was it Dolly Flanders maybe?

[Narrator/Announcer]

Dolly Flanders, the owner of the museum?

[Barry Craig]

Dolly Flanders, the ex owner of the museum.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Oh no, she did not telephone to me. Now this interview is over.

[Barry Craig]

I'm to scram and take Mona.

[Narrator/Announcer]

My apologies for it, but I have so much work.

[Barry Craig]

You're a shrewd customer, scholar.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Thank you Mr. Craig, for the great compliment. There are no, how you say? Flies on you either. Oh, excuse me.

[Barry Craig]

He's told all he's going to Mona. So let's go.

[Mona Gale]

Isn't there some way of compelling the truth?

[Barry Craig]

Yeah. Wait. It's a butte, but I don't think he could stand watching it.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Mr. Craig.

[Barry Craig]

What?

[Narrator/Announcer]

This is telephone call. It is for you.

[Barry Craig]

Nice job of acting mystified, scholar over a pre arranged deal. Give me the phone. Hello, Craig? You know it's Craig.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Guess who this is?

[Barry Craig]

The guy I've got a date with. That's for sure.

[Narrator/Announcer]

If you live, I won't just shoot a flashlight out of your hand the.

[Barry Craig]

Next time through talking about.

[Narrator/Announcer]

I'm on your tail, Craig. Every minute. I followed you to Dolly's and I followed you to Scala's. You better stop chasing around asking people questions, Craig. You better stop or else.

[Barry Craig]

The case began to wrap itself up with a valuable assist credited to the good lieutenant Trav Rogers. The return message for me left with Jake. The elevator op in my office building suggested that I leave travel in the Marble Lawn Cemetery.

[Mona Gale]

But why meet in the cemetery?

[Barry Craig]

A favorite long lost Aunt Rogers wants me to help dig her up. Oh, touchy. Hey, touchy. Trav. Trav, where are you?

[Narrator/Announcer]

Craig, I'm over here. The first footp.

[Barry Craig]

Greetings, ghoul. What do you hear from the beyond? Read that tombstone in front of you. In memory of Sam Tracy. Born 1910, died 1945. His loving wife, Dolly.

[Mona Gale]

Dolly. Barry. Dolly.

[Barry Craig]

Don't get into the lieutenant's act, beautiful. It's his show. Let him have the fun.

[Narrator/Announcer]

But not here. Somewhere over a hot cup of coffee, that headstone Red Sam Tracy died in 1945. He also died in 1951.

[Mona Gale]

The same man died twice.

[Barry Craig]

What Rogers is saying, Mona, is that our Vince Lorimer was also named Sam Tracy once.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Rogers, we checked Lorimer Singer Prince's police.

[Barry Craig]

Files as per your request.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Larimer's prints correspond to the prints we have of a Sam Tracy. A one time thief cracker.

[Mona Gale]

But there is a Sam Tracy now buried in the Marble on cemetery.

[Barry Craig]

Mona's yet gonna convert from reporter to detective. No, beautiful. Whoever's buried in Marble Lawn is a ringer. Someone buried as Tracy as a trick to free the real Sam Tracy. Eddis. The late Vince Solomon. That was my guess too, Barry. Great minds run on the same channel. Who said that? What was the original Sam Tracy?

[Narrator/Announcer]

Trying to escape from a safe robbery in 1945.

[Barry Craig]

Tracy made off with a cash haul.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Of $100,000 belonging to a stockbroker broker named Rufus Scott. The police gave up when Tracy the the phony Tracy's it turns out now died.

[Barry Craig]

Died how?

[Narrator/Announcer]

In a roaming house fire while hiding out.

[Barry Craig]

And the hundredth G went up in smoke. So the police thought.

[Narrator/Announcer]

I mean, as did the insurance detective in the case.

[Barry Craig]

Insurance detective?

[Narrator/Announcer]

A certain Sandy Dowell. An eager beaver in his day. Dow chased Tracy all over North America before the fire burned him out of the case and into retirement. Well, you got something you can contribute, Crane?

[Barry Craig]

This Sam Tracy, alias the late Vince Larimer, was the husband of Dolly the ex owner of the Starbright Park Museum of Murder.

[Narrator/Announcer]

I read the tombstone too, genius. Besides, it's a matter of record that Dolly Tracy posed as the widow in the phony burial of her so called husband in 1945.

[Barry Craig]

I guess Dolly to be the very late Lorimer's widow.

[Narrator/Announcer]

This morning by divination.

[Barry Craig]

By a silver wedding ring on her finger. An exact replica of the one you found on the cross.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Well, we know a lot and we know nothing. Tracy got away clean with $100,000.

[Barry Craig]

Even got out of the country.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Why then did he come back posing as a Vince Larimer?

[Barry Craig]

Why take that risk and get murdered?

[Mona Gale]

And who released the parrot? And why?

[Narrator/Announcer]

Frankly, Mona, I don't know if that's really significant.

[Barry Craig]

Bet on it. It is, Rogers. It's the key to our killer. All right. Where would the key fit? Seabroke? Clark? I'd say Trav. Yes. Suppose I call the moon. Can you bear it if it catches a murderer? Spoken like a good cop. With Trav swallowing his pride Enough to backstop me, I storm the museum of murder. Garrett, you close that door. Crump, quick.

[Narrator/Announcer]

You, the emergent.

[Barry Craig]

Urgent. There's a rifle. Happy wild man tagging after me. Where's Dolly? Packed up and gone. I've taken possession. Uh oh, that's my rifleman. Don't open that door.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Where are you going?

[Barry Craig]

To your office. Telephone for help.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Now look, Craig, I can't get involved in your affairs. Craig.

[Barry Craig]

Hello? Hello? Dead now. The line went dead. Someone cut your wires, Crump.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Craig, you can't stay here. I'm running a business now. The headquarters are dead. No, but my rifle.

[Barry Craig]

Happy friend. Finding the rain. Craig, it out of here.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Healthy murder. That's not my concern. I insist you go. You want me to walk out at a certain death? It's certain death anyhow. Staying in here, cooped up in here. It's cornered, Craig. I've been killed too. The next bullet might get me.

[Barry Craig]

You're raving. Cry.

[Narrator/Announcer]

You stay here. The room is at this type.

[Barry Craig]

Miller, green Crumple. As if you're suffocating.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Suffocating?

[Mona Gale]

Yes, I am.

[Narrator/Announcer]

The room's close.

[Barry Craig]

Stifling close and stifling. Like a cage.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Yes.

[Barry Craig]

And you hate cages, don't you, Crump? That's why you let parrots out of cages. You can't stand seeing anything. Cage.

[Narrator/Announcer]

No, no, no, I can't.

[Barry Craig]

Even the yellow canary. Dolly's yellow canary. The cage is here, but the canary's gone. You emptied that cage too, eh, Crump?

[Narrator/Announcer]

Yes, yes, I can breathe. I'm covergating.

[Barry Craig]

Trav and I swept post mortems. And Tony, while Mona took notes. Claustrophobia. The fear of confinement. Crump couldn't stand anything in cases. Or being caged or cornered himself like I made him Feel in his office. It even showed in his clothes. Baggy suits. Size is too big. Shirt open at the neck, no necktie.

[Narrator/Announcer]

His clothes gave you the hunch on him.

[Barry Craig]

That and the bill of sale. Dolly showed me how. So Trump paid $40,000 for the Museum of Murder. $40,000 for a worthless business.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Blackmail.

[Barry Craig]

It had to be. Dolly knew it was Crump who'd murdered her husband on the dock. He devised a cute way to make Crump pay off.

[Narrator/Announcer]

But why would Crump mur.

[Barry Craig]

Wait, wait.

[Narrator/Announcer]

I think I know. Crump is really Rufus Scott. The stockbroker. Sam Tracy Robb six years ago, was.

[Barry Craig]

Hired to rob by arrangement. My bet is that Crump invited Tracy to come tap his safe. I'll buy that. Sure. The Scott firm was on the verge.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Of bankruptcy before that robbery. And then Tracy never got to keep the stolen $100,000.

[Barry Craig]

He was just the two. The Patrick Lucky to escape with his life. That's why he skipped the country. But Craig.

[Narrator/Announcer]

But who staged the rooming house fire and the burial of a bogus Sam Tracy?

[Barry Craig]

Somebody who wanted to permanently shut off police interest in Sam Tracy and in the hundred g. The men say you were supposed to be Rogers when you stalked me in the museum of murder and helped pull Crump apart at the scene.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Aha. The beneficiary of the $100,000 was the.

[Barry Craig]

Thug who worked over you.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Eh?

[Barry Craig]

A thug who could only be one guy, Trav. Your retired insurance dick, Sandy Dowell. Sandy Dowell? A guy I've got a date with before you have on a. Craig, don't be vindictive. Don't you be casual Trav. About my head before you put the cuffs on Dowell. I'm handing him his cuffs, and that's for sure.

[Mona Gale]

And before you two stalwarts of the law really go at it in earnest, will you tell me if I've got it down correctly?

[Barry Craig]

Uh, some other time. We're going to a huddle over your note. Just one footnote to murder. Dolly ordered that wax exhibit from Scala and invited me to come see it. It was her way of forcing Clump to come across by her museum. The m. Almost all it needs now is the clinch.

[Mona Gale]

The clinch, Barry.

[Barry Craig]

Yeah. To keep your storyline straight. Page one. Boy meets girl. And Paige boy guess girl. Oh, Trav. What the moose, huh? But all of a sudden, Mona's got that certain primitive look in her educated eye. Oh, excuse me for being dense.

[Mona Gale]

Yeah, scram, Lieutenant. Please do not louse Craig up with the press.

[Barry Craig]

Good night, folks. See you next week. Foreign.

[Narrator/Announcer]

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

[Barry Craig]

Tonight's story, murder in Wax, was written by John Robert. Next week, it's the strange story of the naughty necklace, about which Barry Craig has this to say. Next week I'll tell you how I was hired to buy a string of pearls which was almost woven into a noose to hang me with. See you next week, folks. Featured in the role of Mona was Joan Alexander.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Barry Craig, starring William Goggins, was under the direction of Hyman Brown.

[Barry Craig]

This is Don Parlo speaking. Now enjoy Meredith Wilson's Music room on NBC.