Dyke Easter Detective 1939-03-19 This Time For Creeps

Summary

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Episode Overview

Podcast: Harold's Old Time Radio
Episode: Dyke Easter Detective 1939-03-19 – "This Time For Creeps"
Release Date: September 22, 2025

This episode takes listeners on a journey back to the golden age of radio drama, presenting an atmospheric and twisting tale featuring Dyke Easter—the hard-boiled private detective. The plot weaves a classic noir mystery around a supposed murder, tangled identities, and the seedy consequences of greed, revenge, and betrayal.

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Key Discussion Points & Story Breakdown

1. A Desperate Client and a Bloody Confession

Timestamps: 01:07 – 05:35

• Harriet Taber bursts into Dyke Easter’s office, urgently seeking help to "beat a murder charge."
  • Notable exchange:

    Harriet Taber: "He said you didn't understand me. I said I killed a man." [02:45] Dyke Easter: "What you expect? Congratulations." [02:50]

• She claims to have killed a man (Max Arlach) but is vague and terrified, threatening Easter with a gun to force him to take her case.
  • Memorable line:

    Harriet Taber: "You'll help me or I'll kill you too. I'd just as soon die for two as for one." [04:42]

  • Easter disarms the situation (“Shut up. Now sit down.” [04:58]), takes her gun, and accepts the $300 retainer.
• Harriet's stated motivation for the shooting: "I hated him. He ruined my life." [05:20]

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2. The ‘Dead’ Man is Alive—or Is He?

Timestamps: 05:35 – 08:09

• Easter tracks down Max Arlach’s address, expecting a corpse, but instead, Arlach answers the door alive.
  • Arlach dismisses the incident as a “$300 joke on Taber.”
  • Easter notes a suspicious bloodstained rug, raising doubts about the story’s surface simplicity.

    Dyke Easter: "By the way, Mr. Arak, it's none of my business, but if nothing happened, why is this rug blood stained?" [08:09]

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3. A Real Murder and Police Pressure

Timestamps: 08:45 – 12:37

• By the next morning, Arlach is actually murdered, and Easter is hauled in by the police.
  • The police accuse Easter of providing a fake alibi for Taber; ballistics link the murder weapon to Harriet’s gun (now in Dyke's desk).

    Sheriff: "...either Tabor used this gun on Arlac at 10 o'clock, then gave it to you, or you used it on Arlac yourself at midnight. Take your choice." [10:16]

• Easter insists on his innocence and sticks to the timeline that Arlach was alive after midnight.
• Police try to force Easter to reveal Taber’s whereabouts. He takes a beating but refuses to cooperate.

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4. Chasing the Truth

Timestamps: 13:18 – 15:42

• Taber calls Easter in the middle of the night, arranging a clandestine meeting.
  • Easter is careful, aware it could be a trap, but goes anyway.
• At the hideout, Taber, on the verge of suicide, is shot by police. Taber dies with multiple bullets in his body, which will later prove significant ("seven slugs in him" [15:08]).
  • Dyke reflects, "I knew as much about the case as anybody else. With five cents." [15:13]

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5. A Puzzling Body Count and a Lonely Heart

Timestamps: 16:50 – 24:15

• Easter can't reconcile how a man who supposedly died from six police bullets turns up with seven slugs in his body.
  • Dyke Easter: "I could spend two months getting a bullet hole in my shoulder heels and figure out how a man who gets hit by six police bullets comes out of a river with seven slugs in his body." [16:50]
• He investigates Harriet Taber’s background and tracks her to a rooming house, interacting with her and other tenants. Their encounters are tinged with loneliness, desperation, and unspoken truths.
• Harriet details her relationship with her late husband (Jim Taber) and business partner Max Arlach, shedding light on motives and past betrayals.
  • On being lonely:

    Harriet Taber: "I'm a widow now. Completely free. You'll think I'm bold. I'm lonely." [21:36]

  • On the murder:

    Harriet Taber: "Jim was forced out of the company, so he killed Max. Does that tell you anything?" [24:16]

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6. The Final Twist: The Dead Return

Timestamps: 26:55 – 29:22

• In a surreal sequence, Easter witnesses Harriet leaving with Jim Taber—supposedly dead and already buried.
  • "The voice was Jim Taber’s...But Taber had been buried a month ago with seven slugs in his body...Now here before my eyes, Harriet had stepped into a car with him and they were getting away." [27:01]
• After a car chase, Jim Taber is finally killed for real by police, and in the chaos, all is revealed.

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7. Resolution & Aftermath

Timestamps: 29:22 – 31:10

• Easter and Harriet exchange final words. Harriet will inherit her (now truly) late husband's share; Vern Pollard, the true villain, is revealed as the manipulator who orchestrated both murders and staged Jim Taber’s apparent earlier death.
  • Dyke Easter: "First, Vern and Arlach killed your husband at Arlach's house. Then Vern came to me and pretended to be Jim Taber, confessed Arlach's murder..." [29:40]
• Easter rejects payment, reflecting on the emotional and physical cost of detective work.
  • Dyke Easter: "You got money now. You think you can pay me for anything? The beatings and bullets in the shoulder and a few assorted scars. No, you can't pay me. Not with money." [30:43]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the detective’s worldview:

  Dyke Easter: "Murder is my business. You can cry on my shoulder or ask me to stop bullets with my teeth for $25 a day and what have I got to show for it? A few assorted scars, a broken knuckle, a two by four office, one desk, two chairs, one filing cabinet, a private detective's license and a telephone..." [01:11]

• Taber’s desperation:

  Harriet Taber: "You'll help me or I'll kill you too. I'd just as soon die for two as for one if you don't swear me I'm dying. I got a bad heart. I died." [04:42]

• On loneliness:

  Harriet Taber: "You made me feel pretty and desirable. But I'm not. Not really. I was the kind Jim wanted. Somebody he could rule. Not the kind who'd appeal to Max Arlington." [23:39]

• On closure as a detective:

  Dyke Easter: "Have you ever felt like something that crawled out from under a rock? No. You're lucky. I let her go...She'd never forgive me. Never gave you the brush off, eh?" [25:00] Dyke Easter: "Now I'm paid off. Mark the account square. Shut the book. Why not? I'm Dyke Easter. I work for pay. Murder is my business." [31:06]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Client’s confession and case setup: 01:07 – 05:35
• Surprise: The ‘victim’ is alive: 05:35 – 08:09
• Murder discovered & police interrogation: 08:45 – 12:37
• Taber’s final call & fatal showdown: 13:18 – 15:42
• The seven bullets puzzle: 16:50 – 18:05
• Harriet’s backstory & unraveling of motives: 21:36 – 24:16
• Supernatural twist—Taber returns: 26:55 – 29:22
• Resolution & closure: 29:22 – 31:10

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Tone & Style

The episode perfectly channels the snappy, hard-boiled dialogue and existential gloom of classic detective radio drama. The language is blunt, sardonic, and world-weary, reflecting Dyke Easter’s jaded perspective—“Murder is my business,” he often repeats, underscoring both his competence and cynicism.

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Summary

“This Time For Creeps” is a moody, twist-filled detective drama where truth seems as elusive as justice. Dyke Easter is pulled into a web of deceit, double-crosses, and false leads as he hunts the real murderer behind a murder-that-wasn’t, and then was. With sharp banter, plot twists, a dose of existential loneliness, and a killer third-act reversal, this episode stands as a classic example of golden age radio storytelling.

Listeners are taken on a journey through lies, loneliness, and the blurred lines between victim and perpetrator—ending with a detective who, for all his effort, knows that some costs can't be paid in cash.

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Transcript

[Narrator/Announcer]

Imagine if today was the day your idea changed someone's life. Imagine if you could help someone pay for college. Help your community build a new playground. Or help a child make it to that dream competition with GoFundMe.

[Dyke Easter]

It's all possible.

[Narrator/Announcer]

GoFundMe is the world's number one fundraising platform, trusted by over 190 million people every week. Ordinary people meet their goals and do extraordinary things. Your ideas matter. GoFundMe isn't just for emergencies. Want to raise money for your kid's soccer team? Or raise funds for a small business? A creative project or event? GoFundMe helps you turn ideas into reality and help adds up. Fundraisers you start for someone else, raise up to five times more. So think right now. Who could use your help? Change rarely comes from waiting. It comes from someone deciding, today I'll start. Don't wait for someone else to bring change today. Start your fundraiser in just [e-mail] that's gofundme.com to start your fundraiser. Gofundme.com this is a commercial message brought to you by GoFundMe.

[Dyke Easter]

The National Broadcasting Company invites you to meet Dyke Easter. Detective Dyke Easter.

[Harriet Taber]

Mr. Easter, would you like to help a man be the murder charge?

[Dyke Easter]

That depends on whether or not he is guilty. Murder is my business. The National Broadcasting Company presents Dike Easter Detectives with Albert Hecht as Dike Easter and the case he calls this time for Creeps. Daiquisti Detective of solid phrase looks good in the red book. Adam. I earned the price of that ad by letting a paranoid bookbinder empty a gun at me that proved he needed mental treatment. I don't know what it proved about me, except that murder is my business. You can cry on my shoulder or ask me to stop bullets with my teeth for $25 a day and what have I got to show for it? A few assorted scars, a broken knuckle, a two by four office, one desk, two chairs, one filing cabinet, a private detective's license and a telephone. I sit by that phone all day and it's silent as a shelf in the morgue. You tell me why everybody gets pains at night. Pains that need a doctor or a detective. Like that night.

[Harriet Taber]

He said you didn't understand me. I said I killed a man.

[Dyke Easter]

What you expect? Congratulations.

[Harriet Taber]

I've come to see you right away.

[Dyke Easter]

You got any money? Hand me a hang up.

[Harriet Taber]

Somebody.

[Dyke Easter]

Okay. Come up to the office. And remember, I don't take checks. Creepy characters. I could write a book about him, but James Cable would need A chapter mouse size with mouse face, gray skin, darting eyes, mouse voice. He even smells like a mouse. And he was as terrified as a mouse.

[Harriet Taber]

Deterred me to term. He wanted to die. He kept laughing at me, urging me to pull the trigger. That was practically suicide. Suicide? Detect. And bit me for nothing.

[Dyke Easter]

Relax, Tabor. Are you sure this what's his name is dead doctor?

[Harriet Taber]

Like he wasn't 6ft from me when I shot him.

[Dyke Easter]

He's dead. Gum, huh? The gun in lose. Let's have it.

[Harriet Taber]

I threw it away. Johnny store.

[Dyke Easter]

Good night. Paper. I don't want the case.

[Harriet Taber]

Goodness, no. I've got to have help. Oh, Peter.

[Dyke Easter]

Look.

[Harriet Taber]

I got money.

[Dyke Easter]

Give me the gun. How did you know it was bulging in your pocket? Smith & Wesson.45 small cannon.

[Harriet Taber]

I thought it had a pawn shot this morning.

[Dyke Easter]

Now that was brainy. Recently fired one shotgun. David, what you need is a lawyer. A good lawyer. That's the way I feel about him.

[Harriet Taber]

Put your hands up.

[Dyke Easter]

Don't point a gun at me, Taber. I don't like it. Mister.

[Harriet Taber]

You'll help me or I'll kill you too. I'd just as soon die for tools. For once if you don't swear me I'm dying. I got a bad heart. I died.

[Dyke Easter]

Shut up. Now sit down.

[Harriet Taber]

You shouldn't have hit me.

[Dyke Easter]

I told you I didn't like guns.

[Harriet Taber]

Ponder, I'm crazy with fear. You're my only chance.

[Dyke Easter]

All right. I'll do what I can. But first this gun gets locked up. Why did you kill Arlet?

[Harriet Taber]

I hated him. You ruined my life.

[Dyke Easter]

You're a big help. Where's he live?

[Harriet Taber]

1517 Cornelia Drive. Are you going yet?

[Dyke Easter]

I don't promise the same. How much money have you got?

[Harriet Taber]

$300.

[Dyke Easter]

It isn't much, but it'll do for a start. So there I was with $300 in my pocket, driving out into the suburbs 11 to take a look at the late Max Sarlacc. And look at stranger things for less money. A power car. Pass the best cut before 1517 Cornelia Drive. Too bad. Even though they kept going, I got out, looked around. The house was a 50 grand suburban mansion as prosperous looking as US Steel. I walked up the driveway like any honest citizen. The lights were on in a downstairs window. I knocked at the door. Why not? Do you know any easier way of getting into a house? Yes. Is this where Titus Piper lives? You've got the wrong house. I made a mistake. I am not looking for Titus Pfeiffer. I'm looking for Max Arac. I'm Max Arak. What do you want? What are you laughing at? A $300 joke on paper. He thinks he killed you. If you're Alec, who are you? Private detective. I'm supposed to look at your remains. Come in. The same pictures all over the place. All of the same man. A big, square faced, jowly man who looked like he ate a six cross dinner every evening of his life. Portraits and pictures on horseback. Poses of a beach, others shaking hands with people. Dozens of pictures. Are you convinced that I'm Max? Alec? You're the man in these pictures. You like to look at yourself, don't you? Photography is my hobby. What do you do for a living? I'll see here whatever you do, Easter. As you can see, I am in no way injured. This is somebody's idea of a joke. Well, expensive too. It's almost midnight. What else do you want to know before you go? What does Tabor have against you? Tabor is an evil little animal. Good night, Easter. Don't get sore, Mr. Arak. I'm just making a living. Will you prefer any charges against Tabor? No, since nothing happened, does that satisfy him? Yeah.

[Harriet Taber]

Thanks.

[Dyke Easter]

By the way, Mr. Arak, it's none of my business, but if nothing happened, why is this rug blood stained? You make money hard and you make money easy. This was one of the easy times. Saber missed all that or he winged him. Who cares, as long as there was no squawk. $300 for a night's work. A pleasure. And didn't bother going into the office the next morning until after 10 o'.

[Harriet Taber]

Clock.

[Dyke Easter]

When he makes the buck, he plays the word. Oh, this is a smart assiller. Look how relaxed he is. He too got the makings of an axe. What are you, a city or county police? And he's careful. You tell us which, Easter. Harry. County city cops do a cleaner search job. These two had to place torn up files all over the floor. And the platform was holding the gun had taken from Taylor the night before. There's no use getting sore. The sanitation commissioner can't revoke a private detective's license. Practically anybody else can look shiver. He doesn't know. Proud car took your number last night, Easter. Where's Haber? I don't know why Max Arlac was murdered. The sheriff wants Saber, but he might settle for you in there? Sure. Come in, Easter. Have a chair. Thanks, sir. Did she take you down to look at Arlo's body? Yes, sir. Is it the same body you saw last night, Sheriff? Our life Was alive when I saw him last night. Now, I want to like you, Easter. You listen to me. Tabor came to you last night, admitted killing Arlock around 10 o'. Clock. He needed an alibi. You agreed to say that Arlock was alive at midnight and was killed thereafter by a person or persons unknown. Right or wrong, I don't sell alibis, Sheriff. Arlock was alive. You ought to have more sense than to protect a client in a murder charge. Where's Tabor?

[Harriet Taber]

I don't know.

[Dyke Easter]

Bring in the ballistics report on Easter. Smith and Wesson, sir. If I took that gun from Taylor last night, it was locked up in my desk. Don't make me lose my faith in you, Easter. Here's the report you wanted, Sheriff. Oh, thanks, sugar. That's all. Wait outside. Sure. I got two pictures here. One, the bullets were my life's buzz. The other a test shot fired from the gun in your desk van mat. You want to see them? I believe you, Sheriff. Okay. Now, either Tabor used this gun on our lack at 10 o', clock, then gave it to you, or you used it on our lack yourself at midnight. Take your choice. I'm ready to make a statement, Sheriff. Sing loud and sweet. Tabor killed our lack not at 10, but after midnight. He's dimin to desk. After alask, he took the gun, killed our lack and brought the gun back. Where's Tabor, Sheriff? If you'll check the autopsy report, you'll find Arlach was alive at midnight. The house was warm. We can't check that close. I feel sorry for guys like you. We shoot once more. Where's Tabor? I don't know. I hate to do this. Where's Tabor? I don't know. Shivers come in here. After 10 years, you learned to rock with a punch. Take a few on your elbows and shoulders. That's easier than losing your license. They needed paper. I needed him too. But I couldn't expect them to believe that. Well, Tabor, that's enough. He doesn't know. Maybe not. But now he earned his money. It was 2 o' clock when I got back to the office. I called the message taking service does dark. Easter, anything from me?

[Harriet Taber]

No messages, Mr. E. Thanks.

[Dyke Easter]

That second click was the wire being tapped. I didn't care. Across the street from my office, two men sat in a car and fermented to study the racing form. I didn't care about them either. The only thing in the whole wide world I cared about was having that telephone ring. Hearing paper's mouth, voice and Getting to him just one minute ahead of anybody else. I waited all day, all evening. I was willing to wait a month. At 1:30 in the morning. Hello? J. Easter speaking.

[Harriet Taber]

Easter, this is Paper. Good to see you.

[Dyke Easter]

Sure. Any place you say your office is safe.

[Harriet Taber]

There's the house at the foot of Harvestry. Hurry up. A dirt car hoodie.

[Dyke Easter]

Don't worry, I'll hurry. In the rear view mirror, I could see the cars hitting me about half a block behind. I was careful not to lose them. They were careful about not getting any closer. I drove through empty streets to the river, down Harbor Street. Long flight of dark stairs. Lost themselves up with it. Could be a trap. I hoped it was.

[Harriet Taber]

Favor.

[Dyke Easter]

It's me, Easter. I'm coming in. The room was unlit, but a thin shaft of moonlight peeped through a dirty window. There was a figure, a man, standing on the outer window ledge, framed against the glass.

[Harriet Taber]

He said, I just know it was all a mistake. I can't.

[Dyke Easter]

I wanted him to shoot her. I made myself a big juicy target for his shot. It caught me in the shoulder, but it didn't stop me.

[Harriet Taber]

Keep away from me.

[Dyke Easter]

I'll jump.

[Harriet Taber]

I'll jump out the way.

[Dyke Easter]

I didn't shoot him. I didn't have to. Shelly took care of that for me. Taylor jumped out of the window with a bullet dripping into his body. Flung him out. What's the difference? He was dead before he hit the water off. That's the crew back when they fished him out. Four days later. He had seven slugs in him. I read all about it in the papers. I knew as much about the case as anybody else. With five cents. You let us go in, mister. I appreciate that. Don't mention it. The body was identified by his wife. His ex wife. Taber was a former partner in Arach's investment banking company. Got squeezed out. He killed Arak for revenge. As simple as that. Why tell me? Taber? Shooting you proved you weren't working together. The case is closed.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Imagine if today was the day your idea changed someone's life. Imagine if you could help someone pay for college. Help your community build a new playground. Or help a child make it to that dream competition with GoFundMe.

[Dyke Easter]

It's all possible.

[Narrator/Announcer]

GoFundMe is the world's number one fundraising platform, trusted by over 190 million people every week. Ordinary people meet their goals and do extraordinary things. Your ideas matter. GoFundMe isn't just for emergencies. Want to raise money for your kid's soccer team? Or raise funds for a small Business, a creative project or event. GoFundMe helps you turn ideas into reality and help adds up. Fundraisers you start for someone else, raise up to five times more. So think right now. Who could use your help? Change rarely comes from waiting. It comes from someone deciding, Today I'll start. Don't wait for someone else to bring change today. Start your fundraiser in just [e-mail] that's gofundme.com to start your fundraiser. Gofundme.com this is a commercial message brought to you by GoFundMe.

[Dyke Easter]

The case was closed. Everybody happy except Easter the chump. I could spend two months getting a bullet hole in my shoulder heels and figure out how a man who gets hit by six police bullets comes out of a river with seven slugs in his body.

[Harriet Taber]

Come. I, I, I shouldn't be doing this.

[Dyke Easter]

Right.

[Harriet Taber]

There's rules against it.

[Dyke Easter]

Will $10 help you forget the rules?

[Harriet Taber]

20, Mike.

[Dyke Easter]

Okay.

[Harriet Taber]

Huh.

[Dyke Easter]

See? Harry Taper, mid name, Harris Clowder, age 28, 52, brunette. Mary Joseph Taylor, August 18, 1941. No divorce. Separated 1947. Identified body, that of her husband. Corroborative identification location by 10. Yeah, yeah, skip that part. Where does she live now? 208 Oakley Terrace. Ah, thanks a lot, Doug. 208 Oglesby Terrace was a rooming house. The kind that makes up in desperate respect. Respectability for his lack of private baths.

[Harriet Taber]

Mrs. Cable ain't home.

[Dyke Easter]

I could wait for her upstairs.

[Harriet Taber]

No.

[Dyke Easter]

Well, then, if you could tell me where she works. I'm an old friend.

[Harriet Taber]

If you're an old friend, you know where she works.

[Dyke Easter]

Some evening you wait outside a room in the house. Take a rainy night two days after a bullet was taken out of your shoulder. Watch the tenants coming home. Some at 6, some at 8, 10, 12, or any other species each time they feel like. Then tell me which one of them is the 28 year old, five' two brunette who answers to the name of Harriet Taber?

[Harriet Taber]

No, I'm Le Duncan.

[Dyke Easter]

I'm sorry. Excuse it.

[Harriet Taber]

Oh, that's all right. I'm willing to get acquainted.

[Dyke Easter]

Be a detective. Shadow people make big money. I'll bet. I spent two years of my life waiting on street corners for people who never showed up. Do you like rain? Tell me about it. At two o' clock in the morning? Excuse me, miss. I want to ask you. Awful wet. Sorry. I mean.

[Harriet Taber]

Gee, you're sick. You shouldn't be out here in the rain.

[Dyke Easter]

No, I'm waiting.

[Harriet Taber]

You come inside with me this second. You can Wait. Massage. Don't make any noise. Mrs. Martinez is a terror. When you feel better or when the rain stops, you can leave. Just close the front door at the spring lock.

[Dyke Easter]

Thanks. Thanks a lot.

[Harriet Taber]

That's all right. Cool.

[Dyke Easter]

Should not. What's your name, Miss?

[Harriet Taber]

Harriet Tuber. Come on.

[Dyke Easter]

A thin faced, half starved girl in a sleepy fur coat yanks you out of the rain so you won't get pneumonia. Now you can show your gratitude. Figure out an angle. Get done. Nectar for the murder. Salmon, eggs, sunny side up.

[Harriet Taber]

Toast and coffee. Hurry it up, will you, sister?

[Dyke Easter]

Afternoon, Miss Hay.

[Harriet Taber]

Hello. Oh, hello there. What are you doing here?

[Dyke Easter]

I saw you through the window. Thought I'd come in and say thanks properly. Look sister, you only got half an hour to eat.

[Harriet Taber]

Give us a break, will you? Oh, yeah. Yes. I'm very sorry, family. I'm so sorry. And all the love and savage.

[Dyke Easter]

What time do you get off, Ms. Baby?

[Harriet Taber]

This is my early evening. I'm so upset.

[Dyke Easter]

I'll meet you outside.

[Harriet Taber]

You sure you won't?

[Dyke Easter]

My name is De. I'll be waiting at 6.

[Harriet Taber]

D. Easy to remember.

[Dyke Easter]

At 6 if you like. Now that's settled.

[Harriet Taber]

Maybe I can get my ham and as tea and toast is all I want. Thank you.

[Dyke Easter]

Now wait. What kind of dinner is that?

[Harriet Taber]

Too tired to eat? When you handle food all day long, you can't. Tell me something about yourself, Mr. Lisa.

[Dyke Easter]

Been at it very long?

[Harriet Taber]

Waiting on table ever since about two years ago. Who were you waiting for last night?

[Dyke Easter]

Guy owes me money. Been working since you left?

[Harriet Taber]

Your husband know about that?

[Dyke Easter]

When I'm interested in a girl, I like to know all about her.

[Harriet Taber]

Oh, I'm a widow now. Completely free. You'll think I'm bold. I'm lonely.

[Dyke Easter]

Lonely?

[Harriet Taber]

Are you lonely in the street?

[Dyke Easter]

Not now. Call me dad.

[Harriet Taber]

Dad? Why?

[Dyke Easter]

You need somebody to look after you, Harriet. Somebody like me. Wait it. Two steaks, French fried potatoes, chef salad. We'll order dessert later. Okay. So I'm a monster. I play on the emotions of heartbroken widows. You name it, I'm it. But that doesn't say it. All my business is murder. I'm like a hunting dog. You can't shoot over my head and tell me to forget the quarry. A cop puts six bullets into a man, he comes out of the river with seven plugged in him. Where did the seventh bullet come from? I have to know. I have to know.

[Harriet Taber]

Wouldn't you like to put your arm around your girl? Guys. Something the matter?

[Dyke Easter]

No. Yes. Harry has got something.

[Harriet Taber]

I've got to find Out. Anything, guys. Anything.

[Dyke Easter]

Just ask me what really happened to your husband.

[Harriet Taber]

What's the dog? I like Freeze off the water so cool.

[Dyke Easter]

Harrietta has to know.

[Harriet Taber]

Of course, Harry. I'll tell you whatever you want to know. I could tell you so much.

[Dyke Easter]

Your husband.

[Harriet Taber]

He was killed by the police. He murdered a man. The police trapped him and shot him.

[Dyke Easter]

I know that part. But why?

[Harriet Taber]

I left him three years before it happened. Dyke. Is there nothing else you want to know?

[Dyke Easter]

Yes, there is. Junior Arlach. You must have known him. He and your husband were partners.

[Harriet Taber]

Arlach was a strange man. He lived alone. Nobody knew him.

[Dyke Easter]

He was in love with him.

[Harriet Taber]

Dyke, look at me. Do you believe that?

[Dyke Easter]

I don't know what to believe.

[Harriet Taber]

I'm not a pretty woman. Dyke. No. No, don't protect. You made me feel pretty and desirable. But I'm not. Not really. I was the kind Jim wanted. Somebody he could rule. Not the kind who'd appeal to Max Arlington.

[Dyke Easter]

I'm sorry, Harriet. Forget I mentioned. No.

[Harriet Taber]

I've been waiting for you to mention him. In the beginning, Jim and Max and Vern were partners. Vern Pollard. He put up the money to get Jim and Max started. Jim couldn't spend. There never was enough for him. Max only wanted power. They told me Max found Jim stealing.

[Dyke Easter]

Maybe he did.

[Harriet Taber]

Jim was forced out of the company, so he killed Max. Does that tell you anything?

[Dyke Easter]

Maybe it does.

[Harriet Taber]

Is that all you have to say?

[Dyke Easter]

It could be you leave.

[Harriet Taber]

Could. Grant. Good night.

[Dyke Easter]

Night. Where are you going?

[Harriet Taber]

Home. Than you forgot about the papers. They had your name in it. I knew it all the time. And I. I wouldn't think about it. D you're not lonely. Your anger keeps you warm.

[Dyke Easter]

Have you ever felt like something that crawled out from under a rock? No. You're lucky I let her go. I watched the thin foul back move swiftly along the boardwalk. Turn of corner. Without hesitation, she was gone. She'd never forgive me. Never gave you the brush off, eh? Yeah. Hello, Shiller. Been following us? Yeah. You never learned, do you? I'm stubborn. Shilla, suppose you led the cop to a client's hideout not accidentally, but deliberately. When is the next time anybody would ever trust you? Unless you cleaned up the whole mess. There's that. But you heard the sheriff. The case is closed. Sure it is. That's why you've been shadowing me. He's there. Nothing. Only one with free time. And I can count up to seven. Seven slugs in a man's body when there should be. S. Pollard, the silent partner. He's a natural. You don't give us much credit, do you? We turned him inside out. No use. The thing is airtight. But it doesn't make sense. And that seventh sl. Look, KE I owe you something for the shellacking it. Here it is. Get your license, transferred to another city. You might live longer. I don't know why I kept hanging around Harriet's rooming house. I knew she wouldn't talk to me. I didn't even try to bother her. You go along for days, weeks. Nothing happens. And then the sky falls on her. It was one of her early evenings. From the doorway across the street, I watched her walking toward the house.

[Harriet Taber]

Come over here. Hurry.

[Dyke Easter]

It was like a magician's illusion. You see it happening, but you know it can't be true. It has to be a trick. The voice was Jim Tabor's. The mouth, face above the wheel was Jim Tabors. But Taper had been buried a month ago with seven slugs in his body. Harriet identified the body. So did the dentist. Yet now here before my eyes, Harriet had stepped into a car with him and they were getting away. I don't know how I got to my car or started it. It was like a wild dream. One moment you're standing alone on the street, the next to you behind the wheel of a car, and the only thing in the world that's important is to catch up. To stop them. Even death. But crash into them. They knew I was following them. He tried every trick in the book to shake me. Harriet. I thought she was a starving. I was sorry for her. That's Aladdin. The tougher they are, the harder they fall. Die, Easter. Whip him. Shoot him. Tear his heart out. He got paid for it.

[Harriet Taber]

That day.

[Dyke Easter]

A police car that came up from behind with a rush threw abreast at me. Table must have heard that. He tried to stop. Turned into a tight road. I'm coming for you.

[Harriet Taber]

Shoot.

[Dyke Easter]

Shoot back, Easter. He's mine. I want him alive.

[Harriet Taber]

Come out p with your hands up.

[Dyke Easter]

The figure that crawled out of the wreck was Jim Caper. The gray mouse face, the diving eyes. Beyond him I could see Harriet Swun down on the seat. He coming.

[Harriet Taber]

Pollard. Pollard. You're crazy.

[Dyke Easter]

He's still t. That's what you think.

[Harriet Taber]

Fred Po. I arrest you for the murder of Jim Paper and Matt. You thought I was playing a game with you, Dyke. But I thought it was going to kill my husband.

[Dyke Easter]

I thought all kinds of things.

[Harriet Taber]

Dyke. How many times I spoke your name. Dyke. I'm so sorry for you, Dyke. I was Wrong. You are lonely. Unapproachably lonely. And sad.

[Dyke Easter]

How did. When you spend a lifetime watching evil and greed and violence, it frames. Forget it. The legal business is all untangled. You'll inherit your husband's full share in the investment corporation. A lot of money.

[Harriet Taber]

Bern confessed? Yes.

[Dyke Easter]

Schiller is very persuasive. First, Vern and Alack killed your husband at Arlach's house. Then Vern came to me and pretended to be Jim Baber confessed. Alex murder. The police discount the time discrepancy. A greedy detective is lying for reasons of his own. Then Vern props up Jim Tabor's body in a window, hides himself on an outer ledge, goads the police into shooting an already dead man.

[Harriet Taber]

Then why did Bern try to kill me?

[Dyke Easter]

You were his last danger. Schiller told him I was seeing you. Vern knew that sooner or later. You described Jim to me. So what's another murder?

[Harriet Taber]

Easy. Yeah, I suppose it was. You worked on the case a month. I should be grateful.

[Dyke Easter]

Hey, Chiller cracked it. Take it up with him.

[Harriet Taber]

You got Chiller started on it again. He told me that. Let me pay you, tyke. I never paid you by any.

[Dyke Easter]

No, no, you didn't. You got money now. You think you can pay me for anything? The beatings and bullets in the shoulder and a few assorted scars. No, you can't pay me. Not with money.

[Harriet Taber]

Doctor.

[Dyke Easter]

Now I'm paid off. Mark the account square. Shut the book. Why not? I'm Dyke Easter. I work for pay. Murder is my business.